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 http://archive.org/details/communityintroduOOIind 
 
THE COMMUNITY 
 
 An Introduction to the Study of 
 Community Leadership and Organization 
 
 EDUARD C. LINDEMAN 
 
 Professor of Sociology 
 North Carolina College for Women 
 Greensboro, North Carolina 
 
 47742 
 
 ASSOCIATION PRESS 
 
 New York: 347 Madison Avenue 
 1921 
 
Copyright, 1921, by 
 The International Committee of 
 Young Men's Christian Associations 
 
H 
 
 o / 
 
 To 
 
 The Communities of the State of Michigan 
 — Towns, Villages, and Open Country — and 
 Their Leaders with Whom I Was Privileged to 
 Spend Four Happy Years of Intimate Service, 
 and from Whom I Learned Most of What I 
 Have Here Presented Concerning "The Com- 
 munity. 5 ' 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 Preface vii 
 
 I. The Social Nature of Man .... 1 
 
 II. The Neighborhood and the Community 8 
 
 III. Community Institutions and Their 
 
 Functions 17 . 
 
 IV. The Vital-Interest Group .... 26 
 V. Types of Communities 40 
 
 VI. The Community Movement and De- 
 mocracy 58 
 
 Community Needs and Agencies . . 77 
 Institutionalism and the Division of 
 
 Labor . 99 
 
 IX. The Process of Community Action . . 119 
 X. Theories and Principles of Community 
 
 Organization 139 
 
 XL Theories and Principles of Community 
 
 Organization (Continued) . . . 164 
 XII. Christianity and Community 7 Leader- 
 ship .188 
 
 Addendum. A Twentieth Century Confession 
 
 of Faith 211 
 
 Index 215 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 / 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Discontent with current political, economic, 
 and social organization appears to be well-nigh 
 universal. Men everywhere are attempting to 
 work out a new way of living together. We 
 live in a period which is likely to produce many 
 theories. Extremists of one sort will want the 
 entire structure of the present destroyed. 
 Extremists of another sort will insist on keeping 
 the old machinery intact. In the meantime, a 
 few men and women here and there will be 
 attempting to evaluate the resources of the 
 present world; these have abandoned all short- 
 cuts to progress, and have set for themselves 
 the task of building the future out of the 
 materials at hand. 
 
 Science has produced a technology which now 
 permeates and affects all of modern life. The 
 technologists or the specialists are indispensable 
 to modern communities. All divisions of 
 knowledge have been divided into smaller divi- 
 sions. The specialist selects his field and de- 
 votes his life to it. The rapid increase of 
 knowledge since the beginning of the use of the 
 scientific method has made specialism inevitable. 
 
 But the specialist is not happy; he is not free 
 to promote his speciality, nor is he cordially en- 
 couraged to lend his aid in solving modern 
 
viii 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 problems. Specialism is apparently in conflict 
 with some other current in modern life. It is 
 my assumption that this conflicting factor is the 
 social force which usually goes by the name of 
 Democracy. The materials of this text revolve 
 about these two forces: Specialism and De- 
 mocracy. How may these two forces be inter- 
 preted as elements of social progress? 
 
 In seeking an answer to the above query, I 
 have devoted ten years of study to the local 
 community. Half of that period was spent in 
 practical contact with communities. The other 
 half has been divided between the accumulation 
 of studies, and interpretations to students. I 
 have looked upon the community as the unit of 
 social organization in which lies the greatest 
 element of hope for permanent progress. This 
 does not imply that I put out of mind the essen- 
 tial functions of larger units, such as counties, 
 states, and nations. These larger units are 
 essential in proportion to their usefulness to the 
 smaller community units; they frequently be- | 
 come inimical to the wholesome growth of the 
 smaller, organic units. 1 
 
 The Community Movement may appear to 
 many to be disintegrating in tendency. Super- 1 
 ficially, this is true. We have drifted toward 
 control "from the top," until control from | 
 within appears to be, not only difficult, but con- 1 
 
PREFACE 
 
 fx 
 
 trary to progress. The determination with 
 which peoples everywhere are struggling for 
 release from "outside" controls presents a 
 picture of disintegration. This must be re- 
 garded as a temporary phase of adjustment. 
 When the Community Movement has produced 
 a philosophy and a technique which is intelli- 
 gible to the minds of the so-called common 
 people, there will come into being a new rela- 
 tionship between community units and the 
 larger units. I confine myself in this text to 
 a consideration of the former. 
 
 It will be noted that extensive references 
 have been avoided. The general reader has 
 little need for such references; the student will 
 be directed to the literature on the community 
 by teachers, and through the problems which 
 follow each chapter. The book is designed to 
 meet the needs of classes studying community 
 organization. Its further purpose is to present 
 a non-mechanistic interpretation of the Com- 
 munity Movement to teachers, pastors, secre- 
 taries of Young Men's Christian Associations, 
 Young Women's Christian Associations and 
 community leaders in general. 
 
 Eduard C. Lindeman. 
 
 Greensboro, N. C, 
 June, 1921. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE SOCIAL NATURE OF MAN 
 
 The problem of civilization is the problem of 
 establishing good human relationships. Man is 
 destined by nature and by environment to live in 
 cooperation with his fellow-men. The purpose 
 of social organization is to bring about ami- 
 cable relationships between men and groups of 
 men. 
 
 Man is born with three instinctive traits, 
 which, in a large degree, give direction to all 
 his motives and his acts. Each of us is born 
 with the impulse to preserve his own life; this 
 is known as the self-preservation instinct. Each 
 normal human being is also endowed with the 
 instinct to perpetuate himself; this is known as 
 the instinct of self-perpetuation. And each of 
 us is born with the impulse to express his own 
 personality; this is called the instinct of self- 
 assertion. 
 
 The student may at once ask, "How can man 
 be destined to cooperative life when his whole 
 instinctive equipment seems to fit him for self- 
 preservation, ^//-perpetuation, and 5<?//-asser- 
 
2 
 
 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 tion, in short, for selfishness?" It is precisely 
 in this sphere of self-seeking that man is forced 
 to reveal his inherent social nature. His great 
 and dominant impulse or interest is to survive. 
 How can survival be accomplished? By pre- 
 serving one's self, by perpetuating one's self 
 and by asserting one's self. Each one of these 
 instinctive processes of man involves relation- 
 ships with other human beings. An examina- 
 tion of these three principal impulses or in- 
 stincts of man is necessary. 
 
 The Social Nature of the Instinct of Self- 
 Preservation 
 
 The new-born child has the impulse of self- 
 preservation. This impulse is accompanied by 
 the feeling of hunger. To satisfy this hunger, 
 the child must secure food. The search for 
 food and the final acquisition of food involve 
 a series of physical acts which need not be 
 learned. The child is equipped with the re- 
 flexes and the series of reflexes which make it 
 possible to accomplish its end. Sucking, swal- 
 lowing, digesting — these are physical acts which 
 it accomplishes without instruction. But the 
 complete series of reflexes which are essential 
 for the satisfaction of hunger involves coopera- 
 tion with the child's mother. At the very be- 
 
THE SOCIAL NATURE OF MAN 
 
 3 
 
 ginning of its life, the child finds itself depen- 
 dent upon another human being for its survival. 
 
 As the child grows, it becomes evident that 
 there are certain other instinctive tendencies 
 such as fighting, flight, rivalry, belonging (gre- 
 gariousness) , acquisition, etc., which in their 
 origins were essential to survival. To preserve 
 one's self demands the use of the instinct of 
 flight. The accompanying emotion of fear is 
 the natural warning, the safeguard which pre- 
 vents annihilation. Man soon learns, however, 
 that by combining his strength with that of 
 others, he can preserve himself more effectively. 
 This combination for protection, or for fighting, 
 is, of course, a conscious process. But it is the 
 only method whereby the instincts can ade- 
 quately express themselves. Without coopera- 
 tion, it would be merely a matter of time before 
 a species would annihilate itself. In short, it 
 is the social expression of the self-preserving 
 instinct which in the end preserves the indi- 
 vidual. 
 
 The Social Nature of the Self-Perpetuation 
 Instinct 
 
 The impulse of self-perpetuation expresses 
 itself primarily in the realm of sex. The human 
 race is bisexual and cannot perpetuate itself 
 
4 
 
 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 without cooperation between the sexes. The 
 physical acts and the emotional accompaniments 
 of sex, such as parental love, filial love, sexual 
 love, jealousy, etc., are all indicative of hu- 
 man relationships. Sex-gratification and child- 
 rearing are the corner stones of the social 
 organization, known as the family. There is 
 no purely individualistic means of satisfying the 
 sex desires excepting in cases of sex-perversion 
 and abnormalities. The normal expression of 
 sex desires leads directly to forms of social or- 
 ganization. From the family it is but a short 
 step to the organization of a number of families 
 into the tribe and later into the state or nation. 
 
 The Social Nature of the Instinct of Self- 
 Assertion 
 
 Man is not content merely to preserve his 
 life and to perpetuate it in his offspring. There 
 exists also the instinctive urge to express his 
 individual personality. This instinct manifests 
 itself in early childhood in various forms of 
 play, imitation and manipulation. In later 
 stages, there appear the distinct longings for 
 leadership, for power and prestige. The in- 
 stinct of self-assertion lies at the bottom of 
 play, art, drama, politics and religion. These 
 are all, in their highest forms, social expres- 
 sions. 
 
THE SOCIAL NATURE OF MAN 5 
 
 One of man's chief tools for self-assertion is 
 language. It is at once evident that language 
 is a social product. It never could have come 
 into existence without cooperation. In fact, 
 man's urge for self-assertion is essentially a 
 process of communicating "himself" to his 
 social group. 
 
 Self-assertion is impossible without other hu- 
 man beings upon whom the "self" is asserted. 
 And when the forms of self-assertion come 
 under social control, they give rise to the vari- 
 ous forms of association and organization 
 which mark the increasing social nature of 
 humankind. 
 
 Thus far we have considered the social na- 
 ture of man's instinctive equipment. But man 
 has two environments — one social and one ma- 
 terial. Does the material or physical environ- 
 ment of man impose conditions which also 
 foster cooperation? 
 
 It is evident that just as man cooperates to 
 protect himself from other men. so he also co- 
 operates to protect himself from the dangers of 
 his physical environment. It is in this sphere 
 that man is differentiated from the animals. 
 All other animals adapt themselves to their en- 
 vironments or suffer the penalty of death. 
 Man faces the same imperative, "Adapt or 
 die!" but man avoids the penalty by changing 
 
6 
 
 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 his environment. Man's exploitation of his 
 physical environment to satisfy his increasing 
 wants is the story of a gigantic, cooperative en- 
 terprise. Without the various forms of associa- 
 tion it is not conceivable how man could have 
 survived the stronger and larger animals, or the 
 rigors of climate. 
 
 The very handicap which man faces in his 
 physical environment forces him to unite with 
 others in rising above this environment. The 
 pioneer settlement, as well as the modern in- 
 dustrial corporation, represents man's method 
 of dealing with his material environment; it is 
 distinctly a method of associations, combina- 
 tion, amalgamation — of social cooperation. 
 
 STUDENT'S PROBLEMS 
 
 i. Keep a record of one week's activities. 
 Tabulate all of your activities for this period in 
 fifteen-minute divisions. At the close of the 
 week summarize the record and indicate the 
 following : 
 
 (a) The number of your activities which 
 were related to other people. 
 
 (b) The percentage of your activities which 
 were related to other people, as com- 
 pared with the percentage of activities 
 which were individualistic. 
 
THE SOCIAL NATURE OF MAN 7 
 
 2. Construct a chart of the three human in- 
 stincts on the following plan : 
 
 Instinct. 
 
 1. Instinct of self- 
 preservation. 
 
 Instinct of self- 
 perpetuation. 
 
 Physical manifesta- 
 tion, or reflex 
 acts, related to the 
 instinct. 
 
 1. Sucking. 
 
 2. Swallowing. 
 
 3. Flight. 
 
 4. Fighting, etc. 
 
 Psychic state or 
 
 emotion 
 accompanying 
 
 the act. 
 
 1. Hunger. 
 
 2. Fear. 
 
 3. Anger, etc. 
 
 3. Instinct of self- 
 assertion. 
 
 3. State in your own words what you think 
 the following words mean: (a) instinct, (b) 
 reflex act, (c) emotion, (d) impulse. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND THE COM- 
 ^ MUNITY 
 
 Social cooperation leads directly to the estab- 
 lishment of certain units in which people live 
 under common laws and follow common cus- 
 toms. Social regard increases as the members 
 of the human family become more and more 
 interdependent. The process of increasing 
 social regard follows the course of : 
 
 The individual's regard for his relatives: 
 Family. 
 
 The individual's regard for his neighbors: 
 Neighborhood. 
 
 The individual's regard for those living 
 within the same local area of law and 
 custom : Community. 
 
 The individual's regard for the political asso- 
 ciation of communities: The State or Na- 
 tion. 
 
 The individual's regard for all members of 
 the human family: The World. 
 
 It is difficult to see how man may arrive at 
 a stage of socialization which embraces the 
 
THE NEIGHBORHOOD 9 
 
 whole human family unless he has experienced 
 fully the relationships involved in the preceding 
 systems of regard. The community, which is an 
 aggregate of families, is the vital unit of society 
 in which the individual secures his education, 
 receives his standards of health and morality, 
 expresses his recreational tendencies and labors 
 to earn his share of worldly goods. The neigh- 
 borhood is also an aggregate of families but 
 with this distinction : the community is an organ- 
 ized unit with institutions having specific func- 
 tions, while the neighborhood is merely the 
 group of families living within an acquaintance 
 area. 
 
 Numerous attempts have been made to define 
 a community. These definitions may be classi- 
 fied as follows : 
 
 1. The geographic community. A descrip- 
 tion of a community in terms of land area. 
 Thus an incorporated village with defi- 
 nite boundaries, a township, a county, 
 may be described as a community. 
 
 2. The political community. A description 
 of a community based upon its system of 
 government. According to this type of 
 definition, a community consists of the 
 people who live under the laws of the 
 smallest political unit. 
 
 3. The social community. A description of 
 a community based upon the group which 
 
10 
 
 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 maintains a system of social intercourse. 
 This definition includes all of the people 
 who congregate or associate for sociable 
 purposes. 
 
 4. The economic community. A description 
 of a community based upon common eco- 
 nomic processes. This definition is fre- 
 quently called the "trade center" theory 
 of the community. It implies that the eco- 
 nomic processes determine the other inter- 
 ests of life, and that the community con- 
 sists of the people who are attached to a 
 common economic center. 
 
 5. The psychological community. A de- 
 scription of a community based upon like- 
 mindedness. This definition implies that 
 the real community does not exist until 
 there is a consciousness of group adher- 
 ence. In other words, there must be a 
 certain homogeneity of mind before a real 
 community comes into being. 
 
 The student should analyze the following 
 definitions of a community: 
 
 U A community consists of a group or com- 
 pany of people living fairly closely together in 
 a more or less compact, contiguous territory, 
 who are coming to act together in the chief 
 concerns of life." — R. E. Hieronymus. 
 
 "We must not confuse a 'community' with a 
 'neighborhood.' A neighborhood is simply a 
 group of families living conveniently near 
 together. The neighborhood can do a great 
 
THE NEIGHBORHOOD 11 
 
 many things, but it is not a community. A true 
 community is a social group that is more or less 
 self-sufficing. It is big enough to have its own 
 centers of interest — its trading center, its social 
 center, its own church, its own schoolhouse, its 
 own grange, its own library, and to possess such 
 other institutions as the people of the com- 
 munity need. It is something more than a mere 
 aggregation of families. There may be several 
 neighborhoods in a community. A community 
 is the smallest social unit that will hold to- 
 gether. Theoretically, a community could live 
 unto itself; though that would be actually im- 
 possible, just as it is impossible for an indi- 
 vidual to live really a hermit. A community is 
 a sort of individualized group of people. It is 
 both the smallest and the largest number of 
 people that can constitute a real social unit. 
 It is a sort of family of families." — Kenyon L. 
 Butterfield. 
 
 U A study of any (rural) community reveals 
 first the indefiniteness of its boundaries. One 
 may have civil districts, townships, towns, but 
 within each of these there may be communities. 
 Each may, and in fact does, merge more or 
 less into neighboring communities. It is diffi- 
 cult, therefore, to define exactly what a rural 
 community is. One would say that it is com- 
 posed of a more or less well defined group of 
 neighbors having many interests in common. 
 A community cannot be given rigid boundaries, 
 It is a flexible organism. One speaks of a com- 
 munity center, but this does not imply a geo- 
 
12 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 graphic center with definite lines of given radius. 
 A community center is rather the headquarters 
 of a local interest and may be very much to one 
 side of a district or other civil boundary. Com- 
 munity implies neighborhood, but here again 
 we have a word that may be expanded or re- 
 stricted at will." — E. L. Morgan. 
 
 "A (rural) community consists of the people 
 in a local area tributary to the center of their 
 common interests. The community is the 
 smallest geographical unit of organized associa- 
 tion of the chief human activities. The com- 
 munity, however, is not an area, nor an aggre- 
 gation or association, but rather a corporate 
 state of mind of those living in a local area. 
 Most communities have within them several 
 neighborhoods, where a number of homes are 
 clustered together, possibly around a school, 
 church, or mill, but with only one — if any — 
 center of interest. The community is an area 
 in which at least several of the more funda- 
 mental human interests find organized expres- 
 sion, at, or near-by, a common center." — 
 Dwight Sanderson. 
 
 "A community is an idea whose function is 
 a definite territorial area, whose superstructure 
 is a set of like interests consciously recognized 
 as common interests, essential among which are 
 votes, education and work; and whose soul is 
 the sense of fellowship and association for 
 mutual aid. It is not an act but a process. It 
 is not made by law but created by education. 
 The degree of its work in any given place is 
 
THE NEIGHBORHOOD 13 
 
 determined by the kind and number of right 
 relationships established among the members 
 of such a political unit." — Henry E. Jackson. 
 
 "The (rural) community should be defined 
 as a group of farms served by the same primary 
 trade center. Other rural social areas held to- 
 gether by one or two common interests are 
 neighborhoods and not communities in the true 
 sense of the term. The primary center is that 
 town or village where a farm family buys the 
 primary necessities of life in the way of food, 
 clothing, etc., and meets neighbors and acquaint- 
 ances for ordinary business and social relation- 
 ships. The secondary trade center is the 
 larger and more remote town or city minister- 
 ing to the exceptional demands of farm family 
 life, as through newspaper circulation, courts, 
 occasional lectures, the supply of ready-made 
 garments, etc." — Mabel Carney. 
 
 "The community consists of a group of 
 people living together in a single locality and 
 bound together by common interests. They are 
 also subject to common laws." — A. W. Dunn. 
 
 "The word 'community' implies an associa- 
 tion of people having common interests and 
 common possessions, bound together by laws 
 and regulations which express these common 
 interests and ideals and define the relation of 
 the individual to the community." — George W. 
 Russell. 
 
 "The community is a form of social grouping 
 that lies midway between the neighborhood and 
 the state or nation. It lacks the immediate 
 
14 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 face-to-face association of the neighborhood, 
 and it does not have the completeness and self- 
 sufficiency that characterizes the nation or the 
 state. In American life the term 'community' 
 generally connotes a group living within a 
 rather closely prescribed geographical area, the 
 members of which are bound together by the 
 necessity or convenience of fulfilling certain 
 essential needs in a cooperative way. Local 
 government is probably the most distinguishing 
 feature of a community." — C. C. North. 
 
 "The very definition of community is a body 
 of men who have things in common, who are 
 conscious that they have things in common. A 
 community is unthinkable, unless you have a 
 vital inter-relationship of parts. There must be 
 such a contact as will constitute union itself be- 
 fore you will have the true course of the whole- 
 some blood through the body." — Woodrow 
 Wilson. 
 
 With these various viewpoints in mind, it 
 should be possible to construct a workable idea 
 of a community. At least, it is possible to know 
 the attributes of an ideal community, and this 
 will afford a basis for studying the community 
 in which the student lives. Ideal communities 
 do not, of course, exist. An ideal community 
 should furnish to its human constituents : 
 
 i. Order, or security of life and property 
 through the medium of an efficient govern- 
 ment. 
 
THE NEIGHBORHOOD 15 
 
 2. Economic well-being, or security of in- 
 come through an efficient system of pro- 
 ductive industry. 
 
 3. Physical well-being, or health and sanita- 
 tion through public health agencies. 
 
 4. Constructive use of leisure time, or recrea- 
 tion through organized and directed play. 
 
 5.. Ethical standards, or a system of morality 
 supported by the organized community. 
 
 6. Intellectual diffusion, or education through 
 free and public institutions within . the 
 reach of all. 
 
 7. Free avenues of expression, or means by 
 which all the elements of the community 
 might freely express themselves; free 
 newspapers and public forums. 
 
 8. Democratic forms of organization, or 
 community - wide organization through 
 which the entire community might express 
 its thought and see that its will is done. 
 
 9. Spiritual motivation, or religious associa- 
 tions which might diffuse throughout all 
 forms of community organization the reli- 
 gious or spiritual motive. 
 
 STUDENT'S PROBLEMS 
 
 1. Why is an army camp not a community? 
 
 2. Construct your own definition of a com- 
 munity. 
 
16 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 3. Devise a community score-card, using as 
 many points for scoring as you think desir- 
 able. After the score-card is completed, 
 tabulate the scores and the total score for 
 your community. 
 
 4. Write a description of the neighborhood in 
 which you live. 
 
 5. Write a brief historical and descriptive 
 sketch of the community in which you live. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 COMMUNITY INSTITUTIONS AND THEIR 
 FUNCTIONS 
 
 It is customary to divide community institu- 
 tions into two groups: the primary and the 
 secondary institutions. The attributes of a pri- 
 mary group are : 
 
 1. Stability. 
 
 2. Intimate social unity. 
 
 The family and the neighborhood are usually 
 regarded as the two primary groups of our 
 society. It is in these groups that the child re- 
 ceives its first social experiences. These two 
 groups are more stable than other forms of 
 association. In fact, other forms of associa- 
 tion arise out of the elements of the family and 
 the neighborhood. 
 
 Another method of considering institutions 
 is to regard some of them as component and 
 others as constituent groups. The component 
 group is genetic; it offers the basis for propa- 
 gating the race. The constituent group is vol- 
 untary; it is an association of people for certain 
 
18 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 purposes. The only true component group is 
 the family and all other forms of human or- 
 ganization must be considered as being con- 
 stituent, inasmuch as we are not born into them 
 but must in some manner join them voluntarily. 
 These two types of association may be defined 
 in broad terms as follows : 
 
 1. Component groups: composed of both 
 sexes and of all ages, such as families, vil- 
 lages, communities, tribes; the more or 
 less natural or genetic groups. 
 
 2. Constituent groups: voluntary organiza- 
 tions for carrying on a particular activity 
 or achieving a particular end such as 
 churches, schools, lodges, etc. 
 
 In general it has become customary to con- 
 sider the home, the school, the church and the 
 government as the primary or essential institu- 
 tions of a community and all others, secondary 
 or supplemental. The best method of gaining 
 a conception of the institutional character of a 
 modern community is to study a number of 
 typical institutions in connection with their true 
 functions. 
 
 The Family 
 
 The family is often regarded as the germ of 
 society — the molecule of human matter which 
 separates to form more units. The organic 
 
COMMUNITY INSTITUTIONS 19 
 
 analogy is not scientifically correct and yet there 
 is a certain sense in which it may be applied. 
 A number of abnormal families in a community 
 affect the character of the entire community. 
 The family does serve the function of bridging 
 the gap between one generation and the next; 
 it gives continuity to life. It is conceivable, 
 however, that the human race could propagate 
 itself without the organized family. Other 
 animals do so. But some form of the family 
 exists among all peoples, which indicates that 
 the family must have other functions in addition 
 to that of propagation and continuation of the 
 race of species. 
 
 The functions of the family appear to be : 
 
 1. The propagation of the race. 
 
 2. To furnish food, shelter and defense. 
 
 3. To establish permanent relations to the 
 land. 
 
 4. To furnish first social experience. 
 
 5. To supply the basis of private ownership 
 of wealth. 
 
 6. To transmit impulses, customs, habits and 
 idea-systems. 
 
 7. To begin the educational process. 
 
 8. To provide moral standards and religious 
 ideas. 
 
 9. To provide the basis for citizenship. 
 
20 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 With the development of apartment houses, 
 restaurants, schools, churches, clubs, etc., there 
 follows a change in family function. Other 
 institutions assume tasks which formerly be- 
 longed to the family. Other factors which 
 influence the modern family are : economic 
 changes, such as industrial work for women; 
 social changes which elevate the position of 
 women in society; and ethical changes, such as 
 the changing attitude toward divorce. 
 
 Historically considered, the family has gone 
 through the following stages : 
 
 1. The religious family. 
 
 2. The property family. 
 
 3. The romantic family. 
 
 4. The ethical family. 
 
 It appears that we are now at work building 
 the democratic family. Adjustments and adap- 
 tations now being forwarded are : 
 
 1. Eugenics and the assurance that parents 
 who found a family are physically fit. 
 
 2. Maternity insurance; financial reward and 
 care by the state to the mother of chil- 
 dren. 
 
 3. Cooperative housekeeping, including 
 laundering, canning, baking, sewing and 
 cooking. 
 
 4. Proper housing. 
 
COMMUNITY INSTITUTIONS 21 
 
 5. Prevention of exploitation of women in 
 industry. 
 
 6. Constructive use of leisure time. 
 
 7. Democratic organization of the family, 
 based upon equal property rights, equal 
 political rights and equal social rights. 
 
 The modern family is passing through a 
 period of great strain and stress. From the 
 sociological viewpoint, it is highly important 
 that all community institutions shall so function 
 as to strengthen the integrity of the family 
 group. 
 
 The Church 
 
 The organized church, like the family, is fac- 
 ing a crisis. As society becomes more and more 
 complex, it becomes necessary to divide the 
 labor of its institutions. Many functions, 
 formerly performed by the church, are now 
 assumed by other agencies. 
 
 The centrifugal forces let loose by the Prot- 
 estant Reformation have caused a great mul- 
 tiplicity of sects and denominations. Religious 
 prejudices sink deeper than most others, and 
 many communities are now incapable of good 
 social cooperation because of religious differ- 
 ences and religious feuds. 
 
22 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 In its desire to play an important role in the 
 community, the church frequently commits 
 great social errors. Most of these errors may 
 be traced to a lack of understanding regarding 
 the division of labor among social institutions, 
 and to the absence of clear and definitely stated 
 functions of the church. The division of labor 
 among institutions must inevitably continue; the 
 course of events cannot be reversed by having 
 the church reassume functions legitimately lost 
 in the process of social evolution. 
 
 Viewed from the sociological standpoint, the 
 function of the modern church might be stated 
 as follows : 
 
 1. The church should teach fundamental re- 
 ligion. 
 
 2. The church should interpret religious 
 literature in terms of modern life and its 
 problems. 
 
 3. The church should act as a social unifier 
 in the community. 
 
 4. The church should apply its ethico-reli- 
 gious principles to the prevailing indus- 
 trial, political, recreational, and educa- 
 tional life of the community. 
 
 5. The church should furnish inspiration for 
 all worthy community endeavors. 
 
COMMUNITY INSTITUTIONS 23 
 
 6. The church should assist in training and 
 furnishing the leadership for worthy com- 
 munity institutions and movements. 
 
 The church is or ought to be equipped to 
 perform the above-mentioned functions. If 
 they were to be adequately performed, the 
 community life would be motivated by a distinct 
 spiritual incentive. Most communities have 
 sufficient social machinery; the church should 
 furnish the spiritual forces to give both motive 
 power and direction to the machinery's opera- 
 tion. 
 
 The Community Ideal for All Institutions 
 
 Institutionalism is in itself a menace to com- 
 munity improvement. When an institution 
 functions primarily to enhance its own welfare 
 and growth, it is certain in the end to jeopardize 
 the interests of the community as a whole. This 
 presents one of the chief problems of democ- 
 racy. How can we secure efficient institutions 
 which will at the same time contribute to the 
 welfare of the community? 
 
 An institution which is to function properly 
 in the democratic community must be inclusive 
 rather than exclusive. It must not run parallel 
 to class lines; it must cut across the lines of 
 
24 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 class-cleavage. Mere institutionalism quickly 
 becomes organized selfishness. One of the 
 fundamental principles of social progress is that 
 social advancement must occur in all phases of 
 life. Advancing one phase beyond others en- 
 dangers all others. When an institution comes 
 to think more of its own advancement than of 
 the advancement of the community, it is out of 
 harmony with true progress. 
 
 The Twentieth Century witnessed the rise of 
 numerous institutions. In their struggles for 
 existence, many of these institutions became 
 competitive. The time of reckoning has now 
 come and there is a wide-spread feeling that all 
 human institutions must reconstruct their pro- 
 grams in accordance with the community ideal. 
 
 STUDENT'S PROBLEMS 
 
 1. What functions do you think the family 
 should lose? State reasons. 
 
 2. Describe a plan whereby the churches in your 
 community might cooperate to serve the en- 
 tire community. 
 
 3. How could such an institution as the Young 
 Men's Christian Association become a com- 
 munity institution? 
 
COMMUNITY INSTITUTIONS 25 
 
 Name and describe all the institutions in 
 your community. 
 
 Do you believe that all of the institutions of 
 your community should cooperate? If so, 
 state a plan of organization for such co- 
 operation. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE VITAL-INTEREST GROUP 
 
 The life of an individual is most vitally- 
 affected by the group in which he most vitally 
 lives. This group varies with the increasing 
 age of the individual. The essential social 
 functioning of a community is performed by, 
 and through, these vital-interest groups. Such 
 a group is one in which the individual feels him- 
 self vitally included; the group which gives the 
 individual the full sense of "belonging." In 
 adult society there frequently occurs a conflict 
 of interest groups, a division of loyalty which 
 makes it difficult to determine which group is 
 most vitally affecting the individual. But, even 
 in complex communities, with numerous organi- 
 zations and interest groups, the individual ulti- 
 mately finds his most vital expression in a single 
 group. 
 
 Considered from the viewpoint of a growing 
 or developing individual, the normal community 
 groups belonging to this discussion are: 
 
 1. The Home or Family Group. 
 
 2. The Neighborhood Group. 
 
THE VITAL-INTEREST GROUP 27 
 
 3. The Play Group. 
 
 4. The School Group. 
 
 5. The Church Group. 
 
 6. The Work Group. 
 
 7. The Service Group. 
 
 The origin, functioning, and structure of 
 these groups should be a part of the community 
 leader's knowledge. These groups not only 
 represent the standards of the community in 
 culture, in success, and in creativeness, but they 
 undoubtedly give to the community its essential 
 character. It is out of these groups and by com- 
 plexes of these groups that most other forms of 
 organized effort in the community proceed. 
 
 The Home or Family Group 
 
 The home group, in which the child makes 
 his first social discoveries and has his first social 
 experiences, is his most vital group for the first 
 three years of life. Under ordinary circum- 
 stances, the influence of the home begins to 
 wane after the third year. This does not in- 
 dicate that the home loses its influence over the 
 individual entirely; this does occur, of course, 
 in certain cases, but these must be regarded as 
 pathological instances. 
 
 There are many indications in the language 
 of the child which show the grip which his home 
 
28 
 
 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 group has upon him. When, for example, the 
 child discovers some new custom or manner in 
 a visited home and he immediately cries out, 
 "Oh, we don't do that way at our house!" it is 
 quite evident that the child is judging all habits, 
 customs, manners, etc., by the standard of his 
 own family group. His experience has not 
 radiated beyond this group and naturally it 
 forms his only basis of judgment. It may be 
 safe to assume that so long as the child com- 
 pares, unfavorably, other social habits to those 
 of his family, he is living most vitally in the 
 home group. Conversely, when he begins to 
 apply the standards of other groups to his 
 family group, it may be assumed that the home 
 group has begun to lose some of its vital or 
 paramount influence. The transition from the 
 home-group standards to broader standards 
 constitutes an important phase of growth. 1 
 
 In an age *in which social standards are in 
 flux, when the stability of codes of behavior is 
 threatened, the transition from home to 
 broader standards presents a series of danger- 
 ous possibilities. If the family group is at- 
 tempting to maintain a system of behavior 
 
 1 The student will note that this text differs from that of most books 
 which deal with the development of the child. The biological or physio- 
 logical changes have received sufficient, if not undue, emphasis in 
 books on child life. What is here attempted is a sociological and a 
 psychological analysis. Ultimately the physiological adjustments, 
 which have received so much attention, are important because they 
 result in changes of social conduct. 
 
THE VITAL-INTEREST GROUP 29 
 
 which is not in harmony with the changes going 
 on elsewhere, the children of the family will be 
 sorely tempted. The so-called "good," or 
 "best," families are usually the ones which can- 
 not bear the strain of transition. It is in such 
 families that the greatest tragedies occur, for 
 when the static and impossible standard of such 
 a group is abandoned, it is likely to be absolute 
 abandonment. 
 
 In a true neighborhood or an integrated com- 
 munity, it would be possible to obviate the 
 dangers attending the waning influence of the 
 home. The parents of children in such a com- 
 munity would know that the home group must 
 inevitably lose its sole influence in the child's 
 life, and they would divert some of their ener- 
 gies to the creation of proper standards in the 
 other groups of the community. They would 
 not, as now so often happens, embitter their 
 children by contending for a strict adherence to 
 the family-group standards, which to the chil- 
 dren has become an impossibility. 
 
 The Neighborhood Group 
 
 The neighborhood group consists of those 
 families within walking distance of the home of 
 any particular individual. It is made up of 
 both children and adults. It begins to make its 
 
30 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 impact upon the life of the child about the third 
 year. This, of course, varies with the precocity 
 of the child and with the nature of the neighbor- 
 hood. In a rural community where the neigh- 
 boring families are separated by distances of 
 from one-fourth to two miles, the child will not 
 make vital neighborhood contacts as early as 
 in the third year. 
 
 The first noticeable shift in emphasis begins 
 to manifest itself in the speech of the child. 
 He reverses his former method of comparing 
 other homes to his; he now compares other 
 homes with others. 
 
 Children frequently develop quaint or pe- 
 culiar modes of expression such as the broad or 
 the flat sounding of the letter "a." Within the 
 family group, this habit or peculiarity of speech 
 is regarded as worthy of admiration. At any 
 rate, it is not discouraged. When such manner- 
 isms are displayed in the presence of the neigh- 
 borhood group, they attract attention; perhaps 
 they are made the object of ridicule. This 
 immediately causes the child to begin a series of 
 tests for his behavior. 
 
 He now makes conscious or unconscious ef- 
 forts to approximate the standards of the neigh- 
 borhood group. The home group is no longer 
 the absolute and the final authority in his system 
 of behavior. In rapid succession the neighbor- 
 
THE VITAL-INTEREST GROUP 31 
 
 hood imposes upon the child a series of stand- 
 ards which vary slightly or markedly from the 
 standards of his home. The simple discipline 
 of the home will no longer suffice. What 
 mother has not stood helpless before a pleading 
 child whose only argument is the fact that some 
 other child is permitted to have the object for 
 which he begs ? 
 
 Shortsighted parents are jealous of their 
 prerogatives. They do not understand that the 
 child must ultimately find himself in larger 
 social circles and that he is now making those 
 stumbling, halting adjustments which will either 
 make or mar his future social success. To 
 stubbornly resist these adjustments is to reveal 
 a weakness which the child will eventually utilize 
 in destroying the authority of the home. 
 
 The Play Group 
 
 The play group is distinguished from the 
 neighborhood group in the respect that it is 
 constituted of persons of the same general age, 
 while the neighborhood group is made up of 
 families or of persons of all ages. 
 
 If the adult could secure the viewpoint of 
 play the child has, he would no doubt be 
 thoroughly convinced of its vital nature. In 
 this sphere of life, the child makes his own 
 choices. He may walk blocks away to find 
 
32 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 playmates, overlooking entirely those who live 
 next door. When he is old enough to make 
 conscious choices of playmates, he enters a 
 social relationship which is destined to be more 
 powerful in shaping his character and his per- 
 sonality than any other force, with the doubtful 
 exception of hereditary tendencies. 
 
 It may also be stated that the choices which 
 human beings of all ages make, when they are 
 free from compulsion, determine their essential 
 characters. 
 
 The play group becomes, naturally, the most 
 vital group with which the child becomes affili- 
 ated. This group becomes the laboratory in 
 which the entire ethical system of home, school 
 and church is tested and the weaknesses and 
 the strengths of the human metal are brought 
 to the surface. This is the child's world, a 
 world which we grown-ups may enter only 
 through the imagination, or by the miracle of 
 that rare memory which recaptures the intensity 
 of childhood days. 
 
 The neuro-muscular coordination which will 
 control so much of future bodily activity; the 
 degrees of mental alertness which distinguish 
 between the mediocre and those who have great 
 desires; the senses of hearing, seeing, smelling, 
 feeling, which limit real enjoyment of life; 
 those subtle psychological processes which de- 
 
THE VITAL-INTEREST GROUP 33 
 
 termine the selfish or the cooperative career; — 
 all of these factors of life receive their deter- 
 mining tendency during the periods of life 
 when play is the most important and the most 
 vital element of existence. To provide a sound 
 environment for these natural play groups is 
 the beginning of a scientific program of 
 progress. 
 
 The School Group 
 The school group is not so absorbing as the 
 play group; it does not grip the vital interests 
 of the child in the same manner, or in the same 
 degree. There are, of course, instances when 
 the play group and the school group become 
 synonymous. Or there are instances where the 
 play group is merely a division of the school 
 group. The school group must, however, be 
 considered apart from those groups already 
 discussed. 
 
 The school takes the child at an early age. 
 It demands a goodly portion of his waking 
 hours. It gives direction to his mental pro- 
 cesses. It is, nevertheless, an arbitrary group 
 in which the child is participator but not direc- 
 tor. His regimen is constructed by his su- 
 periors. (In high schools and colleges there 
 are attempts at self-government, but a study of 
 these systems of student government reveals 
 
34 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 the fact that they have to do with certain stand- 
 ards of behavior which have originated in the 
 minds of the teachers rather than of the stu- 
 dents.) There are few opportunities in the 
 schoolroom for conscious and individual 
 choices. The school playground does offer 
 such opportunities in some degree, but it is 
 worthy of notice that when children are left to 
 themselves on the playground, they very quickly 
 begin forming natural groups in which they take 
 a much more vital interest than in the entire 
 school group. In brief, the school group is an 
 arbitrary group. It cannot in the very nature 
 of things be as vitally important as the play 
 group. When the social sciences are applied in 
 education, there will undoubtedly be attempts at 
 creating within the school group a number of 
 natural vital-interest groups in which the chil- 
 dren may live freely. 
 
 Artificial standards of dress and social cus- 
 tom can be greatly modified by the school. 
 This function of the school may be extended in 
 the future. This depends upon a more direct 
 and cooperative relationship between school 
 and home than is now prevalent in this country. 
 
 The Church Group 
 To certain types of mind, the church group 
 is a determining factor. Like the school it is 
 
THE VITAL-INTEREST GROUP 35 
 
 an arbitrary grouping. The child seldom makes 
 conscious choices in regard to his church group. 
 He attends the church school which is attached 
 to the church of his parents. There may or 
 may not be in his class members of his natural 
 group. There is in the child's nature a growing 
 sense of worship and of mysticism which the 
 ceremony of the church may satisfy. Educa- 
 tionally the church has in the Sunday school a 
 system of religious instruction based chiefly 
 upon the Bible. All of this is important in the 
 child's life, but our system of religious education 
 falls short of its possibilities. Too often 
 it runs counter to all the instincts and urges of 
 the child's nature and his social environment! 
 
 Unless the church group is based upon a 
 scientific knowledge of the child, his impulses 
 and instincts, it cannot play its proper role in 
 modern life. And yet, despite its weaknesses, 
 the church group is one of the most vital and 
 powerful associations of life. 
 
 The Work Group 
 
 In rural communities children are thrown 
 into contact with work groups at an early age. 
 In city communities, children often experience 
 direct contacts with work groups during vaca- 
 tion periods. A search through a large number 
 
36 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 of autobiographies and biographies reveals the 
 fact that the work group is usually accredited 
 with an influence comparable only to the family 
 and to the play group, or "gang." 
 
 There is a certain psychology of behavior 
 accompanying every vocation. The itinerant 
 farm laborer, for instance, perpetuates a type 
 of behavior which is peculiar to that vocation. 
 When the farm girl, or the farm boy, is thrown 
 into contact with the itinerant farm worker, a 
 new phase of life is opened. This contact 
 comes into the life of the young person with a 
 certain force of impact, which is the stronger 
 because accompanied by an adventurous lure. 
 At first, the language of the work group seems 
 quaint, and then interesting, and then imitable. 
 Slowly, and usually quite unconsciously, the 
 young person accumulates the habits of speech 
 and the customs of the group with which he 
 spends his working hours. 
 
 There will some day arise an industrial psy- 
 chology which will recognize the tremendous 
 importance of the influence of the work group. 
 Attempts have already been made in this direc- 
 tion. The Young Men's and the Young 
 Women's Christian Associations have indus- 
 trial programs which are based upon the theory 
 that the work group is the vital group in the 
 lives of most young people. Welfare programs 
 
THE VITAL-INTEREST GROUP 37 
 
 in industry have their origin in the belief that 
 the employer can elevate social and moral 
 standards by certain forms of leisure-time ac- 
 tivities in the spheres of health, recreation, edu- 
 cation, etc. As industry comes more and more 
 under the sway of the democratic theory, these 
 programs will increase in importance. They 
 will then, of course, arise from the work groups 
 rather than from the employer group. 
 
 The Service Group 
 
 Human beings, at least those whom we call 
 normal, eventually associate with like-minded 
 individuals in some form of organization which 
 will give expression to the altruistic impulses. 
 The service group includes that wide category 
 of human association which embraces secret 
 societies, church clubs, chambers of commerce, 
 merchants' and manufacturers' associations, 
 Rotary Clubs, Kiwanis Clubs, and that vast 
 array of organizations which are intended to 
 serve the individual and society. It is probable 
 that the word "service" does not adequately 
 describe the type of association which is now 
 being discussed. 
 
 In every community there are associations of 
 people, more or less selective in character, 
 which offer to the individual an opportunity to 
 
 4 \ \ 4 4 
 
38 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 exercise the social virtues, loyalty and "team 
 play." So numerous have such associations 
 become in many communities that the person 
 who affiliates with a number of them is com- 
 monly called a "joiner." This expressive word 
 throws light on the character of such forms of 
 association. The joiner is a person who has an 
 overflow of fraternal impulse. His desires for 
 doing good are not limited by membership in 
 one organization. In spite of the fact that 
 organizations belonging to this classification are 
 based upon high idealism and spiritualized 
 ritual, it frequently happens that they are 
 utilized for selfish purposes. 
 
 The important point for this discussion is to 
 determine how firm is the grip which these or- 
 ganizations have upon their members. In some 
 complex communities, the aggregate of such 
 associations constitutes a super-government. 
 Membership in them is more vital than citizen- 
 ship, and great civic enterprises often depend 
 upon the support of these organizations for 
 their success. 
 
 STUDENT'S PROBLEMS 
 
 I. Write a brief autobiography in which you 
 describe the development of your person- 
 ality in terms of the vital-interest groups to 
 which you have belonged. 
 
THE VITAL-INTEREST GROUP 39 
 
 2. At what age do the children of your 
 acquaintance seem to experience a diminish- 
 ing respect for the authority of the home? 
 
 3. Describe a play group in your community. 
 
 4. Describe a school group in your community. 
 
 5. Describe a church group in your community. 
 
 6. Describe a work group in your community. 
 
 7. Describe a service group in your community. 
 
 8. Make a list of all the service groups in your 
 community and state which of them have the 
 greatest influence on the life of the com- 
 munity. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 TYPES OF COMMUNITIES 
 
 Economic forces usually determine the char- 
 acter of the community. These forces are so 
 powerful that communities in different nations, 
 radiating about certain economic influences, de- 
 velop similar characteristics. Thus, Birming- 
 ham of England and Pittsburgh of the United 
 States are known as "steel towns." This phrase 
 is significant in that it indicates that these two 
 communities have developed industrially with 
 the increasing use of steel. The similarities in 
 community life resulting from this correspond- 
 ence in economic bases becomes apparent to the 
 observer. 
 
 The classification of types of communities to 
 be used in this text is : 
 
 A. Urban Communities: 
 
 (a) Industrial. 
 
 (b) Commercial (financial). 
 
 (c) Political. 
 
 B. Suburban. 
 
 C. Industrial Cities or Towns. 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITIES 41 
 
 D. Agricultural Cities or Towns. 
 
 E. Educational Towns or Villages. 
 
 F. Villages. 
 
 G. Open Country Communities. 
 
 This is a more or less arbitrary classification 
 and does not correspond to the classifications 
 used in the Government Census. It is based, 
 not so much upon the size of the community as 
 upon its chief economic background. 
 
 A. Urban Communities 
 
 The urban or city community depends upon 
 manufacturing, distribution of commodities, 
 finance or politics for its economic existence as 
 well as its size. Although politics cannot be 
 scientifically regarded as a result of economic 
 forces, its movements tend to become more and 
 more subject to economic influences, and, it is 
 not too much to say that political or govern- 
 mental communities must in the future be in- 
 terpreted economically. For the purposes of 
 distinction it may be assumed that an urban 
 community is one whose industrial, commercial, 
 or political interests are so great that its rela- 
 tionship to the processes of agriculture is not of 
 primary importance. Of course, no community 
 is entirely divorced from some relationship to 
 agriculture; even those communities whose 
 
42 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 other interests are paramount must depend 
 upon agriculture for their food supply. 
 
 The Latin word "urbane," from which the 
 word "urban" is derived, implies that the resi- 
 dents of congested city communities live under 
 a more refined form of civilization. This im- 
 plication tends to lose its significance as the 
 avenues of communication bring rural peoples 
 in contact with the thought-currents of the 
 world. There is, however, a psychological 
 sense in which the residents of urban or city 
 communities may be distinguished from the 
 residents of communities who live in greater 
 isolation. The continuous social contacts of 
 city life make social intercourse easier; there is 
 a city or urban manner. 
 
 (a) Industrial Urban Communities in the 
 United States have a tendency to center about 
 some particular industry or group of industries. 
 Thus Grand Rapids has come to be a synonym 
 for furniture manufacturing; Detroit at once 
 suggests automobiles and related industries; 
 Lawrence is known as a textile center. This 
 fact has certain important sociological bearings. 
 An industrial community in which one particu- 
 lar industry predominates is likely to attract 
 people of similar traits; where such an industry 
 utilizes foreign labor, it frequently occurs that 
 the same racial groups make up the population. 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITIES 
 
 43 
 
 In periods of unemployment, these so-called 
 "one-industry" communities are likely to suffer 
 most. In such communities, it also happens 
 that welfare systems operated by employers ap- 
 pear first. From the viewpoint of community 
 leadership, these communities present an inter- 
 esting problem : the employers who control the 
 particular industry are almost certain to control 
 the balance of power in community movements. 
 What transpires in such communities is almost 
 sure to be considered in the light of its relation 
 to the controlling industry. 
 
 What has come to be known as the Labor 
 Movement is traceable to the mass production 
 of these larger industrial communities. It is in 
 these giant industries that men lose their per- 
 sonal relationship to their employers, where the 
 division of labor proceeds most rapidly and 
 where strained situations between workers and 
 employers are most likely to exist. As a con- 
 sequence of these factors, such communities de- 
 velop two sets of leadership: one representing 
 the interests of the employer class and the 
 "middle" class, and one representing the work- 
 ing class. The person who exercises either 
 professional or volunteer leadership in such a 
 community must become cognizant of these 
 phenomena. 
 
 (b) Commercial Urban Communities are 
 
44 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 scarce. New York City approaches this type 
 more nearly than any other American city, and 
 yet it cannot be said that New York is purely a 
 commercial or a distributing community. Its 
 manufactories are vastly important; and when 
 considered in comparison to the manufacturing 
 industries of other communities, they present an 
 imposing mass. However, the dominant inter- 
 ests of New York City, as well as other cities 
 of this type, are the interests of the trader, the 
 investor and the middleman. One needs only 
 to attempt a community project in a city like 
 New York to appreciate the fact that it de- 
 mands a different type of leadership. One of 
 the outstanding characteristics of a commer- 
 cial city is its sharp division of social classes; 
 here one finds both extremes of wealth and of 
 poverty. The professional or middle class is 
 apt to be of less service to the working class, 
 and hence to community projects. Many of 
 the attributes of other communities are absent 
 in commercial cities. The type is, however, too 
 scarce to demand extended treatment in a work 
 of this kind. 
 
 (c) Political Urban Communities embrace 
 county-seats, state capitals and national capitals. 
 Occasionally, as, for example, at Lansing, 
 Michigan, and Columbus, Ohio, a state capital 
 develops industrial and commercial interests. 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITIES 45 
 
 But even in these cases the political or govern- 
 mental interests play a most important role in 
 community affairs. The type of people who 
 originally make up the population of a political 
 or governmental community are not likely to in- 
 duce industrial or commercial development. 
 
 The capital of a county, or the county-seat, 
 plays an important part in the life of the Ameri- 
 can people. This is especially true in counties 
 which have no large industrial centers. The 
 influence of the county-seat is not merely a 
 political one, but rather a social and a cultural 
 one. During the War the county was looked 
 upon as the logical unit for nearly all cam- 
 paigns. This had the effect of increasing the 
 degree of county-mindedness of our population. 
 The reaction immediately following the War 
 appeared to indicate a return to greater interest 
 in local affairs. But, so long as all legal matters 
 relating to property must be transacted at the 
 county-seat, and so long as the political com- 
 plexion of a county is determined by the county 
 government, we may expect these political com- 
 munities to wield a powerful influence over na- 
 tional and community movements. 
 
 State capitals bear a similar relationship to 
 the population of their respective states, al- 
 though in a less direct manner. One of the 
 principal difficulties in dealing with political 
 
46 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 communities is the fact that the socially im- 
 portant people do not consider themselves as 
 permanent residents. They usually maintain a 
 dual citizenship; one related to their home com- 
 munities and one to the temporary political 
 community. 
 
 Our National Capital tends to increase its 
 influence over the country as a whole. Many 
 national movements and organizations now 
 maintain headquarters at Washington, not be- 
 cause it is a centrally located city but because of 
 the prestige which comes from contact with offi- 
 cials and departments of the Federal Govern- 
 ment. Inasmuch as there is but one national 
 capital to consider, an analysis is not essential. 
 
 B. Suburban Communities 
 The suburban community is a recent type. 
 It has in it elements of hope and elements of 
 despair. The hopeful thing about suburbs is 
 the fact that they lend themselves to conscious 
 planning. The population is usually made up 
 of families with more than average economic 
 incomes. Social institutions such as schools and 
 churches need not depend upon the meager 
 taxes of the laboring man. Suburbs present 
 available spaces for playgrounds and parks; 
 dwellings need not be crowded, and streets may 
 be of sufficient width. 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITIES 47 
 
 But the truly coordinated suburban com- 
 munity is rare. Again, its inhabitants maintain 
 a dual citizenship. Their chief economic, com- 
 mercial, or political interests are elsewhere; the 
 suburban home is merely a refuge from the dis- 
 advantages of the city. The population is 
 likely to suffer from too much homogeneity. 
 There is apt to be a surfeit of leaders and a 
 dearth of followers. In many respects the sub- 
 urban community is a social anomaly; its social 
 organization is too frequently superficial and its 
 one-class solidarity lacks enthusiasm. In all 
 probability, the working people in the suburb 
 suffer from paternalism ; they have little or none 
 of the joy of participation in the community's 
 affairs. It is only in exceptional cases that they 
 own property; the servant-class usually lives in 
 the "backyard" of the suburb. 
 
 C. Industrial Cities or Towns 
 The type of community to be considered in 
 this classification is becoming increasingly im- 
 portant. It is not the large industrial center, 
 but the small manufacturing city or town of 
 from 15,000 to 75,000 population, in which 
 the major economic interests are industrial and 
 the secondary interests are agricultural. In this 
 type of community there exists a fine blending 
 of population types. The original wealth, now 
 
48 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 invested in small industries, came from agri- 
 culture. The larger proportion of the popula- 
 tion has a rural background. But the farmer, 
 as such, plays a diminishing role, and the busi- 
 ness man, the employer, the banker, and the 
 professional men and women are in the as- 
 cendancy. 
 
 Excepting in the South, where such com- 
 munities are dominated by a single industry, 
 such as cotton manufacturing, most of the resi- 
 dents own their homes. Families are medium 
 in size; children are prized. School and church 
 maintain a vital relationship to family life. 
 Social intercourse is not inhibited by class dis- 
 tinctions, for the son of the worker is destined 
 to be the business or professional leader of the 
 next generation. A steady infiltration of rural 
 blood stands guard over the encroachment of 
 the social and physical "diseases" incident to 
 city breeding. The enthusiasm of growth 
 creates community pride. 
 
 Social organization in these communities has 
 not yet produced the evils of overlapping and 
 duplication. Opportunities for leadership 
 abound. Frequently these opportunities are 
 lost through the continuous use of the same in- 
 dividuals, or the same groups in all community 
 projects. Cities in this category suffer most 
 from too rapid growth. So-called "booster" 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITIES 49 
 
 specialists in business and land enterprises 
 create fictitious values. The border-line itin- 
 erants are attracted. Housing conditions fail 
 to meet the needs of the increasing population. 
 Agencies of social control cannot be generated 
 rapidly enough to meet changed conditions of 
 behavior. In short, the small industrial com- 
 munity is led to aspire to size at the expense of 
 quality. It is not contented to be a well-organ- 
 ized, well-coordinated community of 50,000 
 people, but sets its mark at 150,000; when the 
 extra 100,000 have arrived the community 
 structure is already broken down and a new 
 foundation must be laid. 
 
 D. Agricultural Cities or Towns 
 The type of urban community described 
 above is one in which the industrial and com- 
 mercial interests are in the ascendancy; the type 
 to be considered here is one in which the manu- 
 facturing or commercial interests are entirely 
 or largely dependent upon agriculture. Fre- 
 quently communities in this class have no indus- 
 tries employing more than fifty to one hundred 
 men. They consist of a business center radiat- 
 ing about one to five banks. These banks are 
 the magnet points around which the economic 
 life of the community revolves. Their savings 
 accounts are made up of funds deposited by 
 
50 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 farmers, retired farmers, merchants, profes- 
 sional men, and laborers in approximately the 
 order in which these classes are here named. 
 
 The prosperity of these communities rises 
 and falls with the farmer's fortunes; if crops 
 are good and prices satisfactory, the small city 
 flourishes, and if crops are poor and prices low, 
 the small city finds itself reflecting the pes- 
 simism of the discouraged agriculturist. The 
 economic barometer of the agricultural city or 
 town is the ratio between agricultural produc- 
 tion and agricultural prices. The banker, the 
 hardware dealer, the implement salesman, the 
 elevator owner, the live stock shipper, as well 
 as the smaller retail establishments, depend 
 upon the farmer for the life of their trade. 
 
 Communities of this type contain a small 
 proportion of foreign population; at least it is 
 usually removed one to three generations. 
 Ambitious movements to attract great indus- 
 tries are attempted, but ordinarily the residents 
 are content to continue at a normal and gradual 
 rate of growth. Over-churching is common in 
 these communities. The school is likely to be 
 out of date and the teachers composed of the 
 class who stand midway between the good rural 
 teacher and the good city teacher. The pro- 
 fessional leadership, strangely enough, may be 
 of high caliber. The lawyer who has political 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITIES 51 
 
 ambitions discovers that the small agricultural 
 city or town is easily cultivated. The physician 
 who desires five to ten years of general prac- 
 tice, under conditions of low expense, finds the 
 small city or town an admirable field. The 
 professional leadership is respected and 
 honored. 
 
 In many sections of the country these small 
 cities and towns are now facing a crisis. The 
 growing class-consciousness of the farmers, 
 coupled with the phenomenal increase - in 
 farmers' cooperative organizations, promise 
 to deprive these communities of at least a por- 
 tion of their economic prestige. The psycho- 
 logical distinctions which develop when one 
 group of persons lives by the exploitation of 
 another group are now being thrown into sharp 
 relief. 
 
 The discovery is made that these small 
 agricultural cities or towns are not organically 
 rural. Many observers go so far as to say that 
 this type of community is in reality a parasite 
 upon the rural population. Slowly but appar- 
 ently with inevitable relentlessness they are 
 forced to abandon certain economic preroga- 
 tives. The cooperative creamery, the coopera- 
 tive elevator, the cooperative warehouse and 
 shipping station are forerunners of an eco- 
 nomic system in which the farmer will control 
 
52 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 his own economic processes. Will the small 
 agricultural city then become the center of the 
 rural community? It is this question which now 
 concerns the rural sociologists. 
 
 E. Educational Towns or Villages 
 The "college town" is an extraordinary type 
 of community. Its dominant interest is usually 
 a college or university located purposely apart 
 from urban centers. Industries and commercial 
 enterprises are discouraged. Social organiza- 
 tion is seldom effective. The leaders of the 
 community are inclined to be the academic 
 leaders of the college or university. When this 
 is not true there is conflict between the educa- 
 tional institution and the residents of the com- 
 munity. The academic leadership is weak be- 
 cause it is made up of specialists, each of whom 
 regards himself superior in his own field. The 
 consequence of this is a reluctance to submit to 
 leadership in other fields. During the academic 
 season the life of the community centers about 
 the students and faculty; the remaining period 
 of the year is one of quiet and anticipation. 
 
 Because of their numbers, but more because 
 of their influence upon life in general, these 
 communities deserve attention. If good forms 
 of community organization can be effectively 
 promoted in such communities it will be an in- 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITIES 53 
 
 centive to the communities into which students 
 go after graduation. 
 
 F. Villages 
 
 The American village is economic in a sec- 
 ondary sense; it is primarily cultural. The 
 small population center with 200 to 1000 in- 
 habitants performs some very essential eco- 
 nomic functions. In addition to its retail stores 
 it may support a small bank which acts as a 
 savings feeder for some larger bank in a near- 
 by city. Occasionally it has a shipping station 
 for the convenience of farmers. 
 
 If, however, the average American village 
 were destroyed by fire and never again recon- 
 structed, all of these economic functions would 
 be performed without great inconvenience to 
 any considerable number of people. As the ave- 
 nues of communication such as good roads, tele- 
 phones, automobiles, free mail delivery, etc., 
 increase, the village will tend to become more 
 and more a secondary economic community. 
 The major economic functions will drift to 
 larger urban centers. 
 
 On the other hand, the village may be the 
 nucleus around which the future organized 
 farmer is to build his rural community; the 
 community in which the voice of the farmer is 
 to be supreme. 
 
54 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 Considered from a cultural viewpoint, the 
 village assumes an important position in Ameri- 
 can community life. Surrounding its few clus- 
 tered retail stores, its post office, and its bank, 
 are homes of medium size set down in yards of 
 ample proportions. The school may not pro- 
 vide a complete high school course but it is one 
 of the most, if not the most, important institu- 
 tion in the community. The churches, one to 
 three in number, occupy places of respect in the 
 landscape of the village as well as in the hearts 
 of the villagers. From the shaded homes with 
 spacious lawns come children who lead normal, 
 unhurried lives. And it is the child who is the 
 dynamic center of the life of the village. The 
 families are usually large by comparison with 
 city families. The children still perform home 
 duties, which make family obligation habitual. 
 In the home are books revealing an ancestry of 
 classic tendencies; an ancestry which occupied 
 the center of the stage of American social life 
 before cities and factories came to dominate our 
 destiny. And from the quiet of these villages 
 comes a steady flow of character and person- 
 ality which goes far toward the formation of 
 American opinion and ideals. Leadership in- 
 vested in the small but natural groups of girls 
 and boys in these villages will multiply itself an 
 hundred-fold. This leadership must work with 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITIES 55 
 
 tools that are few in number and rough in re- 
 finement, but if it has the genius to make the 
 highest use of the resources of the village, it 
 will find in its hands material out of which 
 greatness proceeds. 
 
 G. Open Country Communities 
 In a strictly scientific sense it is doubtful if 
 there are any open country population groups 
 which can be called true communities. If one 
 holds to that definition of a community which 
 requires that a community must be capable of 
 satisfying the major economic wants of its 
 population, it is certain that there are few true 
 communities in the open country. The pioneer 
 rural community was, of course, self-dependent, 
 but it is now a unit of the past. Few modern 
 open country communities are capable of meet- 
 ing all of the economic, social, and civic de- 
 mands of their inhabitants. However, there 
 are open country population clusters which 
 must be considered as communities from the 
 viewpoint of leadership. These may be termed 
 neighborhoods in the scientific sense, but in the 
 cultural sense they must be regarded as com- 
 munities. 
 
 The open country community may center 
 about the school, the church, or a general store. 
 Frequently all three of these institutions form 
 
56 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 the center. In Northern and Western states 
 the store or some economic institution is in- 
 variably a part of the equation. In Southern 
 communities it is invariably absent. The socia- 
 ble life which concentrates at the rural school 
 or the rural church is a "thing apart." It has 
 characteristics and attributes which are not 
 found in any of the communities described in 
 the foregoing part of this chapter. This group 
 is made up of families, and the families consti- 
 tute groups in which all members participate in 
 the business of agriculture. The traits which 
 make the rural group distinctive are not merely 
 occupational in character; agriculture is more 
 than a vocation. It is a mode of life. 
 
 Approximately one-third of the total popu- 
 lation of the United States resides in open 
 country communities. In consequence the kind 
 of community life which is here created is des- 
 tined to play an important role in national 
 affairs. The processes of the rural community 
 are slow. Leadership is scarce, or rather, re- 
 luctant. Opportunities for sociable contact are 
 fewer in number than in urban communities. 
 Urban communities may place great faith in the 
 "miracle" of "getting together." The rural 
 mind is likely to be suspicious of mere social 
 contact. The least intellectual or the least cul- 
 
TYPES OF COMMUNITIES 57 
 
 tural element in the community is disposed to 
 give color to the life of the community group. 
 
 The most significant factors in regard to 
 modern open country communities are: the in- 
 creasing number of graduates of colleges who 
 pursue agriculture, and the increase in organiza- 
 tion among farmers. In combination, these 
 factors have already produced noteworthy re- 
 sults. The rural education movement is now 
 proceeding from within. The consolidation of 
 schools and churches is rapidly becoming a 
 problem of local expediency. The boundaries 
 of the open country community are extending. 
 In one state it is now legally possible for an 
 open country community to incorporate, elect 
 officers and collect taxes. The long-neglected 
 social factors of country life are receiving na- 
 tional attention. The next fifty years will prob- 
 ably witness intense activity and progress in re- 
 gard to the open country community. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE COMMUNITY MOVEMENT AND 
 DEMOCRACY 
 
 The Community Movement represents an 
 attempt on the part of the people who live in a 
 small, compact, local group to assume their own 
 responsibilities and to guide their own destinies. 
 It is a reaction against centralized control. In 
 its organized form it is a demonstration of 
 Democracy in action. The Community Move- 
 ment cannot be adequately interpreted without 
 a consideration of the theory of Democracy. 
 
 The problem of Democracy is a problem of 
 authority. In whom shall authority exist? In 
 the individual or in the group? In the small 
 local unit (community) or in the state? His- 
 tory presents a series of successive waves in 
 which authority is a shifting element. A brief 
 survey of the rising and falling tides of Democ- 
 racy is essential to an understanding of the 
 period in which we now live. 1 
 
 x The sequence of this survey follows closely that used by Dr. 
 Lynn Harold Hough in a well-known address in London during the 
 World War. 
 
COMMUNITY AND DEMOCRACY 59 
 
 Early Statements of Democratic Theory 
 
 The prophets, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, pro- 
 moted an anti-democratic theory six hundred 
 years before Christ. They saw the evils of an 
 undisciplined group egotism, and in combating 
 this they attempted to direct attention to the 
 individual's responsibilities. In the phrase, 
 "the soul that sinneth, it shall die," Ezekiel 
 gave theological weight to his individualistic 
 concept. But in the same sentence there is an 
 allusion to social unity: "Behold, all souls are 
 mine" gives a basis for believing that this early 
 and bold prophet recognized the conflict be- 
 tween the individual and the group. 
 
 Almost a century later, Protagoras stated 
 the individualistic concept in philosophical 
 terms. He, too, sought a guide whereby philo- 
 sophical tenets might be given practical appli- 
 cation, and in his struggles he arrived at the 
 conclusion that "the individual man is the 
 measure of all things." 
 
 Socrates assumed a position in sharp contrast 
 to philosophical individualism. Although he 
 played an individual role himself, he pointed to 
 the group as the source of standards. To him 
 the individual became important in relation to 
 the group or to people in general. Plato de- 
 
60 
 
 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 veloped this concept in his theory of the state. 
 According to this theory the individual must 
 always be subordinated to the group, which he 
 personified in terms of the governmental unit 
 known as the state or the nation. 
 
 The Middle Ages witnessed two distinct 
 movements which revealed the existence of 
 democratic and anti-democratic tendencies. 
 Realism emphasized the group significance. 
 This movement regarded the two institutions of 
 the state and the church as being the only 
 realities in social organization. Apart from 
 these two institutions the individual could have 
 no real meaning. Nominalism, as a movement, 
 was a protest against Realism and once more 
 asserted the supremacy of the individual. 
 
 In the Sixteenth Century Martin Luther 
 made a bold assertion of individual rights. His 
 defiance of the church and the state as institu- 
 tions of authority was dramatic and partially 
 successful. Man's inherent need for authority, 
 and his failure to conceive all of the implica- 
 tions of the Reformation, caused the loss of 
 some of its most distinctive values. The Eng- 
 lish individualist movement of the Seventeenth 
 and Eighteenth Centuries, with Locke and Kidd 
 as spokesmen, was a continuation of the forces 
 liberated by the Reformation. 
 
COMMUNITY AND DEMOCRACY 61 
 
 Modern Statements of Democracy 
 
 The French Revolution was an attempt to 
 establish a working relationship between indi- 
 vidual liberty and fraternity. Its watchwords, 
 ''liberty, equality, and fraternity," stated in 
 graphic form the old issue between the individ- 
 ual and the group. Viewed in the light of the 
 evolution of the idea of Democracy, the French 
 Revolution appears as an heroic effort to state 
 the problem definitely and to erect a political 
 structure upon the principle. But this age-old 
 question was not to be settled so simply. The 
 United States began its political history as an 
 independent nation with another restatement of 
 the problem. The Declaration of Independ- 
 ence is a document of individualist rights. 
 It reaffirms the old shibboleths of the French 
 philosophers who heralded the Revolution. In 
 stentorian tones it courageously says to the 
 world that "all men are created equal" and 
 from this dictum derives the theory of govern- 
 ment which is based upon the consent of the 
 governed. 
 
 Then came the Constitution, which was a 
 compromise between individual and group 
 rights. In the Constitution the individual is 
 endowed with certain sacred rights which the 
 state must refrain from molesting. The rights 
 
62 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 of free speech, free press, and free assemblage 
 are even placed without the sphere of the 
 Federal Congress. But the greater portion of 
 this great document is concerned with a state- 
 ment of the relationships which are to exist be- 
 tween the free individual and the strong state. 
 The Constitution did not solve the problem. 
 The two major political parties of this country 
 have risen and fallen with platforms emphasiz- 
 ing either the rights of the individual or of the 
 state. Two great political leaders rose to emi- 
 nence on the basis of this struggle; Thomas 
 Jefferson was the logical and the philosophical 
 champion of individual rights (expressed in the 
 form of State's Rights, which under the Ameri- 
 can form of government indicates a smaller 
 governmental unit than the Nation or State, as 
 it is generally known) ; while Alexander Hamil- 
 ton was the spokesman of centralized authority 
 resting with the Federal Government. 
 
 In 1861 the struggle came to a tragic issue. 
 There existed at that time large numbers of 
 people who were not regarded as being equally 
 born or equally endowed with others. These 
 people were deprived of some of the funda- 
 mental individual rights; they were, in fact, held 
 to be the property of others. To continue the 
 extension of this latter class, and of the institu- 
 tion of slavery which was its necessary adjunct, 
 
COMMUNITY AND DEMOCRACY 63 
 
 would be to deny the organic law of the land. 
 Either the Declaration of Independence and the 
 first portions of the Constitution must be dis- 
 regarded and held to be null and void, or the 
 question of slavery and individual rights must 
 be decided. This was a question too deeply 
 entrenched in economic and social institutions 
 to be settled without engendering feelings of 
 enmity. Unfortunately, the issue was permitted 
 to drift to the point of warfare. Because of the 
 fortune of economic preponderance, the pro- 
 ponents of centralized control won the war, and 
 a strong central government became inevitable. 
 Viewed in the light of nationalistic develop- 
 ments in Europe and the Orient, this was un- 
 doubtedly a fortunate trend of affairs. But the 
 essential problem of Democracy was not solved 
 by means of the Civil War, as will be seen in 
 the study of modern tendencies which we shall 
 embrace within the scope of the community 
 movement. 
 
 The German Empire was destined to give the 
 anti-democratic theory its most forceful demon- 
 stration. In the growth of this nation the indi- 
 vidual was thoroughly subordinated. The state 
 became the absolute authority, and this ulti- 
 mately meant despotism. In fairness to some 
 of the German leaders who were responsible 
 for this development it must be admitted that 
 
64 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 the last forty years of the German Empire were 
 years of benevolent despotism. Under this 
 regime the individual's wants were readily met, 
 but they were met by the Government. The 
 tendency was inevitably toward a highly effi- 
 cient form of state socialism. Coupled with a 
 military caste this combination contained within 
 it the seeds of its own destruction. 
 
 Proudhon, the philosopher of anarchy, took 
 a position in direct opposition to the tendencies 
 of European governments. He insisted upon 
 a state of society in which every individual was 
 to have the right to do as he pleased. To him 
 all government was obnoxious. 
 
 Thus it becomes evident that an extreme in- 
 dividualist theory carried to its logical con- 
 clusion ends in anarchy, and an extreme group 
 theory ends in despotism. 
 
 The World War, of 1 9 14-19 1 8, began as a 
 nationalistic scramble for economic control. 
 Through the interpretations of the aims of the 
 War, made by such leaders and agencies as 
 Woodrow Wilson and the British Labor Party, 
 it evolved into a struggle centering about the 
 theory of Democracy. The rights of individ- 
 uals and the rights of smaller states to deter- 
 mine their own status and destiny became the 
 chief issues of the War. Added to this was the 
 determination on the part of the working peo- 
 
COMMUNITY AND DEMOCRACY 65 
 
 pie who, in the end, must bear the burdens of 
 warfare, to end all war as a means of settling 
 nationalistic disputes. And, once more we face 
 disillusionment; the essential problem of De- 
 mocracy is not yet solved. Perhaps we shall 
 some time learn that it will never be solved by 
 means of warfare, and that its only hope of 
 solution lies in practical demonstrations carried 
 out in small communities. 
 
 Modern Manifestation of the Community 
 Movement 
 
 In order to gain perspective in regard to the 
 far-reaching implications of the Community 
 Movement, this survey includes a wider range 
 of tendencies than is ordinarily included in such 
 a category. All movements which aim to re- 
 store control and authority to smaller groups, 
 having vital relationships within themselves, 
 are included as a part of the Community Move- 
 ment. 
 
 Home-rule Legislation increases in quantity 
 on the statute books of all of the states in the 
 United States. This is an indication that cer- 
 tain cities (communities) desire certain special 
 privileges, or controls, which are now in the 
 hands of the state. Very frequently such com- 
 munities desire the privilege of taxing them- 
 
66 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 selves for certain improvements; they discover 
 that state legislation sets a limit to their in- 
 debtedness, and chafing under such restrictions, 
 make an effective appeal for home-rule legisla- 
 tion. To the student of municipal government 
 this phenomenon presents one of the most inter- 
 esting developments of the past decade. 
 
 Public Ownership of Public Utilities may, or 
 may not, be the most efficient method of provid- 
 ing public service, but the tendency to take the 
 control of public utilities away from private cor- 
 porations is unmistakable. The operation of 
 electricity, gas, and water supply began as pri- 
 vate enterprises; a service or a commodity was 
 sold to the people of a community. The wide 
 character of these services coupled with the un- 
 just use of public franchises made them of 
 deep-seated political importance. Many com- 
 munities have been split asunder by the so-called 
 "water," or "gas," or "power" "crowds" in 
 political control. Public ownership may have 
 its attendant evils, but they are the evils of 
 democratic control and will be borne with less 
 complaint. 
 
 The Consumers' Cooperative Movement is 
 another manifestation of the desire of a com- 
 munity to be released from certain extraneous 
 forces of control. There is a widespread be- 
 lief that the necessities of life continue to in- 
 
COMMUNITY AND DEMOCRACY 67 
 
 crease in cost to the consumer due to non-essen- 
 tial processes of distribution. Most of these 
 processes lie outside the intimate community 
 and come to be personified as evils in the per- 
 sons of middlemen. The community deter- 
 mines to eliminate some of these middlemen 
 and becomes its own secondary distributor. 
 This movement has already reached such pro- 
 portions in Great Britain that it embraces 1400 
 cooperative societies, with a membership of 
 three and one-half million people. 
 
 Producers' cooperatives have a strong foot- 
 hold in Europe and are now beginning to secure 
 important controls in the United States. If the 
 present plans of the American Farm Bureau 
 Federation materialize, we shall soon witness 
 the phenomenon of having the entire grain crop 
 of the country sold on a cooperative basis. 
 
 The Farm Bureau is a new form of social or- 
 ganization in the United States, the implications 
 of which are not fully realized. The American 
 farmer is a "much-tutored" person. The Fed- 
 eral Government maintains a gigantic depart- 
 ment which serves his needs. Each state pro- 
 vides agricultural instruction of some sort in 
 colleges, high schools, and through extension 
 teaching as well. Many private agencies, such 
 as banks, consider the education of the farmer 
 one of their functions. During the develop- 
 
68 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 ment of this extensive system of bringing in- 
 formation to the farmer, he was himself quite 
 inarticulate. The farm bureau is the farmer's 
 voice raised to a pitch intended to make his 
 tutors know that he expects to guide his own 
 destiny in the future. 
 
 The Settlement House movement is a neigh- 
 borhood rather than a community project. Its 
 objective is to furnish a common meeting place 
 for the more or less homogeneous residents of a 
 district or neighborhood in a city. At this 
 center are provided the facilities for expression 
 in the form of recreation, dramatics, and dis- 
 cussions. Educational advantages, such as are 
 not usually found in the public schools, are here 
 provided for the educationally disadvantaged. 
 From the sociological viewpoint the settlement 
 house is an institution whose primary function 
 is to conserve the neighborhood ties of families 
 and groups. It places certain non-political ele- 
 ments of community life directly within the 
 control of the people of the neighborhood. 
 
 The Community Center movement as it has 
 developed in the United States has two distinct 
 aspects. Its chief proponents have been those 
 who are interested in making better use of the 
 equipment and the personnel of the public 
 schools. To this end they desire to have each 
 public school serve as the social center for the 
 
COMMUNITY AND DEMOCRACY 69 
 
 educational, recreational, sociable, and discus- 
 sional life of the people in the neighborhood of 
 the school building. Another element is con- 
 cerned with making the church the community 
 center, and there are others who insist upon the 
 erection of separate community buildings to be 
 used for this purpose. It is estimated that 
 there are approximately five thousand com- 
 munity centers in the United States. New York 
 City alone utilizes nearly three hundred public 
 schools as social centers. 
 
 The Forum movement is closely related to 
 the community center movement but deserves 
 special attention. In the forum movement we 
 see an attempt to restore to the people of a 
 community the fine art of arriving at conclu- 
 sions by means of free discussion. In the rapid 
 development of avenues of communication such 
 as daily newspapers, discussion has languished; 
 opinions are created by these powerful organs 
 of influence. The forum movement is a clear 
 indication that people have an inherent desire 
 to reach their own conclusions. 
 
 Community Councils, which were in reality 
 neighborhood councils, were organized in a 
 number of cities during the War. These were 
 in the nature of non-governmental agencies de- 
 vised to hasten community action on important 
 campaigns related to the prosecution of the 
 
70 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 War, and hence constituted an admission of the 
 effectiveness of the smaller local unit in a crisis. 
 Following the War, the City of New York con- 
 tinued this form of organization in modified 
 form and with a peace-time program. The 
 separate community councils were related to the 
 entire city by means of a city parliament, in 
 which important city-wide projects were dis- 
 cussed. The various councils functioned 
 through committees appointed on the project 
 basis. Community secretaries were employed 
 to handle the administrative affairs of the coun- 
 cils; specialists in recreation, health, etc., were 
 also employed to serve all of the councils within 
 the city. 
 
 The Social Unit plan of organizing a com- 
 munity by neighborhoods, as demonstrated in 
 Cincinnati, constitutes one of the most 
 thoroughly thought-out schemes of community 
 organization which has yet been attempted. 
 The plan involved organization by city blocks 
 within a neighborhood; each block was pro- 
 vided with a leader chosen from the resident 
 group. Programs were initiated by an occupa- 
 tional group made up of representatives of all 
 institutions and agencies functioning in the 
 neighborhood. Thus members of the chamber 
 of commerce, of the labor unions, of the 
 churches, the teachers, the nurses, the doctors, 
 
COMMUNITY AND DEMOCRACY 71 
 
 etc., were all represented on the committee 
 which initiated programs. Such programs could 
 not, however, be promoted without acceptance 
 by the democratically organized community or 
 neighborhood group. The plan involves the 
 full utilization of specialists under the control 
 of the organized neighborhood. 
 
 The Community Church movement is an at- 
 tempt to socialize the work of the church in such 
 manner as to include within its scope of activi- 
 ties certain social services. In its purest form 
 it represents an anti-denominational force, as a 
 result of which the absolute control of the 
 church shall rest with the community and not 
 with denominational boards or bishops. In its 
 more modified form, by which we know it best 
 in the United States, it is merely an attempt to 
 do certain things through the church as a me- 
 dium. Thus churches simply render services to 
 the community in the way of recreation, educa- 
 tion, social service, etc., without changing the 
 fundamental character of the church organiza- 
 tion. In rural communities this movement is 
 best represented by federated churches, in 
 which two or more churches combine for a 
 wider program, or union churches in which 
 more than one denomination exists on a co- 
 operative basis. 
 
72 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 In addition to these specific movements there 
 are other manifestations of the community 
 urge. Some of these are to be found in the 
 changing programs of institutions and agencies. 
 The Young Men's Christian Association has a 
 community program which is distinguished 
 from its institutional or building program. 
 This is also true of the Young Women's Chris- 
 tian Association. The American Red Cross 
 emerged from the War with a peace-time pro- 
 gram which embraced the entire community in 
 relation to certain vital interests of life. War 
 Camp Community service became Community 
 Service, incorporated soon after the World 
 War ended, and under this new name promotes 
 a recreation, or leisure-time program, for all 
 elements of the community's population. The 
 word "community" has been appropriated by 
 numerous agencies and institutions which here- 
 to-fore promoted programs for special groups. 
 
 The above manifestations of the attempts of 
 community groups to gain control of their ac- 
 tivities are, perhaps, sufficient to indicate that 
 there is a real community movement in the 
 United States. This tendency is not, however, 
 confined to this country; the movement appears 
 to be well-nigh universal. In Great Britain 
 there are Whiteley Councils which aim to place 
 certain controls within the hands of the workers 
 
COMMUNITY AND DEMOCRACY 73 
 
 in certain industries, and there is the Shop 
 Stewards movement with similar objectives. 
 The Garden-Cities of England, which are 
 likely to develop in this country under the name 
 of Farm-Cities, constitute another manifesta- 
 tion of community control. The New Town 
 proposals of the Society of Friends goes still 
 further in this direction. In Yucatan, Mexico, 
 there is a form of local government which goes 
 by the name of the Councils of Resistance, 
 which are in effect community organizations 
 with governmental powers. The Soviets of 
 Russia are occupational councils devised to con- 
 trol the political, economic, and social affairs 
 of the local community. Instead of selecting 
 political representatives from geographic units 
 they select them from occupational units. All 
 of this increased evidence merely strengthens 
 the assumption that we are now passing through 
 a stage in which democratic theory is to be 
 tested on the community basis. 
 
 A brief survey of the history of the demo- 
 cratic movement, viewed in the light of the 
 community, convinces the student that there is 
 no lack of theory. Schemes and plans there are 
 in abundance. What, then, is the reason for 
 so much trial-and-error, so much hope-and- 
 despair, which makes man's pathway toward 
 Democracy so uncertain? As in the case of all 
 
74 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 social problems, there is no one reason, but 
 there are many reasons. There is space here 
 for the consideration of only a few of the major 
 impediments of Democracy. 
 
 In the first place, Democracy, as expressed in 
 the Community Movement, is inimical to certain 
 vested interests. The power which comes 
 through authority is a jealous power. Those 
 who secure it hold it fast. 
 
 In the second place, there has been too little 
 education in regard to the theory of Democracy. 
 Many still think of it as merely a highly idealis- 
 tic form of government which is unattainable 
 under modern complex conditions of society. 
 
 In the third place, there is an ever present 
 tendency among idealists and realists to go to 
 extremes. They look upon progress as being 
 absolute when all the facts indicate that the 
 best that can be hoped for in human affairs is 
 tentative progress. 
 
 The most formidable foe of Democracy, 
 however, is the confidence which people place in 
 schemes and plans and forms of organization. 
 What the social machinery of our day needs is 
 spiritual force to provide motive power. The 
 modern Community Movement will fail to give 
 Democracy its practical expression if it is not 
 motivated by a spiritual dynamic. Such a dy- 
 namic force was unloosed with the message and 
 
COMMUNITY AND DEMOCRACY 75 
 
 the life of Jesus of Nazareth. He lived His 
 life on the basis of certain basic democratic as- 
 sumptions, and He scientifically demonstrated 
 those assumptions. In His eyes all individuals 
 were of value; through the social implications 
 of His message sin became democratic and the 
 burden of all; in His aspirations all humankind 
 were included. He assumed that Love would 
 solve more problems than Hatred. He even 
 assumed that to have a human enemy was a 
 social anomaly. And He believed that religion 
 was essentially a system of behavior by which 
 the individual need not be swallowed up in the 
 group, but by which the individual must find his 
 ultimate satisfactions in spiritualizing the 
 group. 
 
 STUDENT'S PROBLEMS 
 
 1. The Protestant Reformation substituted 
 the Bible for the former authority of the 
 Church. Why did this substitution of au- 
 thority lead to the multiplication of sects 
 within the Protestant Church? 
 
 2. Describe some community project with 
 which you are familiar, and in which cer- 
 tain vested interests (of property, wealth, 
 political power, etc.) defeated what was 
 for the best interests of the group. 
 
 3. In what relationships or ways is the saying, 
 "all men are born equal," not true? 
 
76 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 4. Which was the more important issue in the 
 Civil War, slavery or secession? 
 
 5. Anarchy implies that man would be happier 
 without government. Why does this theory 
 seem impractical to you? v * 
 
 6. List three pieces of home-rule legislation, 
 giving specific provisions of each. 
 
 7. If water supply is a public utility which is 
 justified by public ownership, why is not 
 clothing supply a similar utility? 
 
 8. Why have organizations among merchants, 
 financiers, and laboring men preceded or- 
 ganization among farmers? 
 
 9. If there are several churches in a com- 
 munity can any one of them become the 
 community's social center? Why? 
 
 10. Are free speech, free assembly, and free 
 press essential to Democracy? Why? 
 
 11. What could the public schools do toward 
 training citizens for democratic living? 
 
 12. Should the Church have a community mes- 
 sage? Why? 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 COMMUNITY NEEDS AND AGENCIES 
 
 A community is a form of social organization 
 which meets certain human needs. The various 
 aspects of the Community Movement are, in 
 fact, expressions of modes and means of meet- 
 ing these needs. The human needs which are 
 regarded as having universal bearing in the 
 lives of all people everywhere are : 
 
 Physical needs expressed in health. 
 Material needs expressed in wealth. 
 Social needs expressed in sociability. 
 Intellectual needs expressed in knowledge. 
 Aesthetic needs expressed in beauty. 
 Ethical needs expressed in righteousness. 
 
 It will be observed that all people do not 
 express all these needs ; nor do all people ex- 
 press them in the same degree. However, 
 some portions of all these needs must be met 
 if a social organization is to be progressive. 
 
 From the viewpoint of the theme of this 
 book it will be serviceable to consider human 
 needs in the light of their resultant institutions. 
 
78 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 It is characteristic of a progressive society to 
 increase institutions ; needs which are sufficiently 
 universal sooner or later find expression in some 
 form of organization. Such organizations, 
 based upon fundamental human needs, become 
 institutionalized and formalized so that in time 
 they are looked upon as an integral part of the 
 customs or mores of the group. A simple need, 
 such as the need for food, may result in the 
 necessity of providing defense for the food 
 supply. This defense, in turn, creates the neces- 
 sity for inventing arms and ammunition. The 
 organization of armies of defense and the re- 
 sulting institution of militarism follows. The 
 primary needs of food, shelter, and clothing are 
 the starting points of numerous forms of social 
 and economic organization, all of which have 
 resulted in institutions of a more or less per- 
 manent character. When people live in organ- 
 ized groups, such as communities, their indi- 
 vidual needs are supplemented by group needs. 
 The combination produces a wider classification 
 of needs and institutions than that suggested at 
 the beginning of this chapter. Individuals liv- 
 ing in communities can no longer be considered 
 merely as individuals; their needs become social 
 or group needs and must be met in common. 
 This implies organization of some sort. 
 
 The following classification of community 
 
NEEDS AND AGENCIES 79 
 
 needs, and the consequent organized means of 
 meeting such needs, is not intended to represent 
 the chronological sequence of the existence of 
 needs; nor does the order indicate relative im- 
 portance of the various needs. 
 
 Classification of 
 Need 
 
 1. Orderlinessj or au- 
 thoritative rules re- 
 garding property and 
 personal rights and 
 privileges. 
 
 2. Economic well-being, 
 or the means of util- 
 izing raw products 
 for food, clothing, and 
 shelter. 
 
 3. Physical well-being, 
 or health of body. 
 
 4. Intellectual diffusion, 
 or the means of dis- 
 seminating informa- 
 tion and knowledge. 
 
 5. Associative ties, or 
 opportunities for so- 
 ciable intercourse with 
 like-minded persons. 
 
 Community Needs 
 
 Institution 
 Government, courts, po- 
 lice. 
 
 Agriculture or productive 
 industry. 
 
 Physicians, hospitals, pub- 
 lic health organizations, 
 nurses. 
 
 Public schools, news- 
 papers, forum. 
 
 Societies, clubs, voluntary 
 organizations. 
 
80 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 Need 
 
 6. Ethical control, or 
 standards of behavior 
 accepted by the group 
 but not legally con- 
 trolled. 
 
 7. Recreative expression, 
 or leisure-time activi- 
 ties to supplement the 
 ordinary regime of 
 life. 
 
 8. Spiritual motivation, 
 or expression of re- 
 liance upon the super- 
 natural. 
 
 9. Philanthropy, or so- 
 cial means for assist- 
 ing the disadvantaged 
 members of the group 
 (social work). 
 
 10. Group articulation, or 
 means by which the 
 various interest 
 groups and the total 
 population may be re- 
 lated. 
 
 Institution 
 Moral customs, mores, ob- 
 servances. 
 
 Theatres, playgrounds, art, 
 dance halls. 
 
 Churches 
 
 Charity organizations, hos- 
 pitals, institutions for 
 defective, delinquent 
 and dependent persons. 
 
 Community organization. 
 
 This classification of community needs does 
 not explain all the institutions existing in 
 modern communities. A labor union, for ex- 
 
NEEDS AND AGENCIES 81 
 
 ample, is an outgrowth of economic processes 
 but it has also its definite relationship to "asso- 
 ciative ties." It serves its members economi- 
 cally but it also serves them socially. In like 
 manner, a theatre should be a place where the 
 innate impulses of dramatic expression become 
 re-creative; in its modern form its major objec- 
 tive is to earn profits on invested capital. Com- 
 munity needs 1 may be classified in numerous 
 other ways, all of which may throw light upon 
 the student's understanding of the community 
 process. Thus, we may think of human needs 
 as being primary and secondary. Primary 
 needs (in reality "wants") would consist of 
 those things which are requisite to life, such as 
 food, shelter, and clothing. The secondary 
 needs would include all of those accumulated 
 needs which lead to a higher form of life. All 
 animals have primary needs in this sense. The 
 human animal creates the secondary needs in 
 proportion to his elevation above the purely 
 animal plane. The primary needs may be con- 
 sidered as belonging to the individual and the 
 secondary needs to the group. 
 
 x The word "need" is here used to express "lack of." The econo- 
 mist's term "-want" denotes more specifically a physiological fact. The 
 psychologist's term "desire" is more definitely related to the mental 
 objective of a want or need. In thinking of a communits 7 as a pro- 
 gressive society, the word "need" seems to express more adequately 
 those increasing and cumulative services which come into existence to 
 meet higher wants. 
 
82 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 Community Institutions Based upon Com- 
 munity Needs 
 
 The force which holds a community to- 
 gether, above all other forces, is work or eco- 
 nomic production. In our study of types of 
 communities we discovered that those com- 
 munities which were based primarily upon 
 politics, or the mere conveniences of living, 
 (political and suburban communities), pre- 
 sented characteristics which are not found in 
 the ordinary community. It is these non- 
 economic characteristics which give these com- 
 munities their peculiar constitution and make 
 them anomalous. 
 
 Agriculture, manufacturing, and mining are 
 the three elemental and fundamental economic 
 processes which lay the foundation for com- 
 munity life and from which rise the various 
 forms of social organization. Each of these 
 modes of production has brought into existence 
 a regime of life which constitutes institution- 
 alism. 
 
 Agriculture as an institution (farming) has 
 produced a discipline, a distinct population 
 group, and distinct forms of social organization. 
 There are those who look upon agriculture as 
 a mere classification of vocations, but it is more 
 than that; it is a mode of living which is dis- 
 
NEEDS AND AGENCIES 83 
 
 tinguished from the urban or city mode of 
 living in these particulars : 
 
 The farm family is related to the productive 
 enterprise as a unit. 
 
 The social contacts of the farmer are fewer 
 and of lesser variety. 
 
 The farmer's contact with the soil and with 
 natural forces produces a type of mind, differ- 
 ing in its outlooks from that of the city dweller. 
 
 The social institutions which occur indige- 
 nously in farming communities are less numer- 
 ous and less complex. 
 
 The family life of farmers is on a more 
 intimate basis and is more cohesive. 
 
 The farmer is both capitalist and laborer; he 
 owns his tools and sells his finished products. 
 
 Industrial discipline has so completely ab- 
 sorbed the enterprise of mining that these two 
 forms, or economic institutions, may be con- 
 sidered together. Modern industry has created 
 a discipline in many respects as distinct as that 
 accompanying military organization. Work 
 begins at a given time and ends at a given time. 
 The employer furnishes the raw materials and 
 the tools and the supervision; the worker per- 
 forms tasks which are conditioned by his em- 
 ployer and his machines. Three distinct social 
 classes have emerged from this regime: the 
 capitalist or investor, the technician and the 
 manager, the worker. Frequently the first two 
 
84 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 classes overlap, but they combine only to reveal 
 a greater contrast between those who own and 
 direct and those who labor with their hands. 
 The natural outgrowth of such a discipline is 
 the organization of the workers for the purpose 
 of collective bargaining. Organization of 
 laborers constitutes the most remarkable and 
 fascinating development in modern social or- 
 ganization. 
 
 Governmental Institutions 
 
 Economic exploitation of natural resources 
 leads quickly to ownership of property. Such 
 ownership implies rights and privileges which 
 must have some sanction in order to receive re- 
 spect. The institutions of government give 
 ■such sanction. In the later stages of a society 
 the forces of ownership and non-ownership of 
 property become more or less equalized. This 
 leads to the introduction of other factors in 
 government. It no longer suffices to have 
 governmental agencies concern themselves en- 
 tirely with property; human life makes certain 
 demands for rights and privileges which must 
 also have sanction. Government then becomes 
 the institution through which the rights of 
 property and the rights of life become estab- 
 lished. 
 
 It is not the purpose of this book to discuss 
 
NEEDS AND AGENCIES 85 
 
 the foregoing phases of modern institutional- 
 ism in detail. They belong rather to the 
 spheres of economic and political science. The 
 community leader's opportunity and task, in our 
 time, lies in the direction of the extra or non- 
 governmental forms of organization. 
 
 The most pertinent fact in regard to modern 
 tendencies in government is the transition from 
 legalism, as the compelling factor, to the con- 
 sideration of economic and social forces as the 
 compelling factor. The newer sciences of so- 
 ciology and economics are destined to play an 
 important role in the future development of 
 governmental affairs. Jurisprudence, constitu- 
 tional interpretation, and political parties will 
 decrease in importance as the newer social 
 sciences are applied to this problem. All of 
 which means that the extra-governmental 
 agencies, which are now the initiators of most 
 social movements, will either go out of exist- 
 ence, or will assume much more important posi- 
 tions in our community life than they do at 
 present. The latter development appears to be 
 the logical expectation in view of the present 
 reaction against state socialism, or the control 
 of economic and social affairs by the state to 
 the exclusion of private agencies. 
 
 The managerial form of city government is, 
 perhaps, the best indication of the present ten- 
 
86 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 dency to regard government as a technique 
 which deals with engineering, rather than with 
 political problems. The institutions of a 
 modern city which are trusted with the supply 
 of water, the protection from fire, the building 
 of roadways suitable for motor traffic, the pro- 
 tection from contagious and infectious diseases, 
 and with the numerous functions related to life 
 and living, must be institutions founded upon 
 scientific wisdom and administered by engineer- 
 ing minds. 
 
 The governmental institutions of a modern 
 community include: 
 
 ( 1 ) Police department for the protection 
 of property and life. 
 
 (2) Public utilities furnishing water, light- 
 ing, heat, gas, and transportation. 
 
 (3) Public health organization for the pre- 
 vention of diseases, for sanitary regula- 
 tions, disposal of wastes and the care of 
 persons in ill-health. 
 
 (4) Courts for the adjustment of difficulties 
 of a legal nature. 
 
 (5) Public relief agencies and institutions 
 for the care of dependent, defective, 
 and delinquent members of the com- 
 munity group. 
 
 (6) Public schools for the dissemination of 
 general and vocational education. 
 
NEEDS AND AGENCIES 87 
 
 (7) Public libraries providing books and 
 current literature to the citizens of the 
 community. 
 
 (8) Public markets for the economical 
 method of distributing perishable food 
 products. 
 
 (9) Public parks, playgrounds and recrea- 
 tion centers for rest, supervised and 
 directed play, and athletics. 
 
 This list does not, of course, complete the 
 governmental institutions of the modern com- 
 munity. The City of New York, for example, 
 employs ninety thousand persons in its numer- 
 ous departments of governmental activity. 
 
 Quasi-Governmental Institutions 
 Private institutions have a tendency to be- 
 come officialized. The playground movement in 
 the United States is an example of private ini- 
 tiative transferred ultimately to public control. 
 Many libraries and art institutes and museums 
 as well as parks were originally in the control 
 of private individuals or groups. In the transi- 
 tion from private to public control there often 
 occur cases where there is a curious mixture of 
 administration; the official agency provides the 
 funds through taxation but private organiza- 
 tions still exercise administrative control. The 
 technique for the promotion of such quasi- 
 
88 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 governmental institutions and agencies is lack- 
 ing in scientific background. Most of these 
 cases are in large measure accidental. It is 
 probable that the future will witness a tendency 
 toward the development of a definite technique 
 for the administration of quasi-governmental 
 institutions and agencies. The officialization of 
 an institution or movement is almost certain to 
 subtract from that movement some vital ele- 
 ments. The spirit of volunteer service, the 
 ascendency of personal leadership, and the en- 
 thusiasm of group achievement in spite of 
 handicaps, — these are all values which are so 
 frequently lost in a governmental institution. 
 If values of this sort could be conserved by 
 retaining certain controls within the private 
 group, and by turning over others to the gov- 
 ernment, there would result a great social gain. 
 
 Extra-Governmental or Voluntary Agencies 
 The United States is the seed-bed of volun- 
 tary agencies. A new human need is no sooner 
 discovered than there ensues an organized form 
 of meeting the need. Organization constitutes 
 a large part of the genius of the American 
 people. There is something splendidly demo- 
 cratic about this readiness and eagerness for 
 organization. Governmental agencies are slow 
 to act ; they are encumbered with legalities and 
 
NEEDS AND AGENCIES 
 
 39 
 
 formalities. The small private group can do 
 things quickly; it need not wait for primaries 
 and elections. It is a spontaneous and en- 
 thusiastic response to a human need, which pro- 
 vides many of the satisfactions of individual 
 service. 
 
 Types of Voluntary Agencies 1 
 
 The most prominent types of voluntary 
 agencies in the United States are : 
 
 1. Charity organizations. 
 
 2. Recreation organizations. 
 
 3. Sociable organizations. 
 
 4. Commercial organizations. 
 
 5. Religious organizations. 
 
 6. Reform organizations. 
 
 7. Cooperative organizations. 
 
 8. Educational organizations. 
 
 The origins, development, and processes of 
 most of these types of agencies are much the 
 same. All of these elements cannot be dis- 
 cussed within the limits of this work. The most 
 valuable results will come to the student as he 
 
 3 It will be noted that the terms "institution," "agency" and "or- 
 ganization" are used more or less interchangeably in this chapter. 
 This has come to be common practice although it should be remembered 
 that there are certain technical distinctions which should be observed. 
 An organization becomes an agency when it has a program which 
 extends beyond its membership. An agency becomes an institution 
 when it is accepted in the customs of the group as having a permanent 
 place and function. 
 
90 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 studies these types of organizations in a local 
 community. 
 
 Charity organizations include all agencies 
 and institutions which administer voluntary re- 
 lief to the poor, the diseased, the distressed, the 
 deformed, the defective, or in short the unad- 
 justed or maladjusted members of the com- 
 munity. The word "philanthropy" is still used 
 in connection with this type of organization, but 
 there is an increasing tendency to discontinue its 
 use. The word "charity" is also losing its sig- 
 nificance and the organizations belonging to this 
 type are now grouped under the term "social 
 work." In some sections of the country where 
 charity work is being officialized, the term 
 "public welfare" is supplanting all of the older 
 words. It is, of course, apparent that the term 
 public welfare does not adequately describe the 
 private agencies and will probably not be used 
 in this connection. 
 
 Organized social work for administering 
 relief to the unadjusted members of the com- 
 munity has produced a technique of dispensa- 
 tion as well as of training or education. Its 
 leadership is a trained leadership and its pro- 
 cesses are standardized. Moreover, its de- 
 velopment has produced a high degree of 
 specialization. The following list of the vari- 
 ous differentiated fields of social work is an 
 
NEEDS AND AGENCIES 91 
 
 indication of the far-reaching influence of this 
 one type of voluntary organization: 
 
 1. Family social work. 
 
 2. Child welfare. 
 
 3. Delinquency. 
 
 4. Housing. 
 
 5. Public health. 
 
 6. Industry. 
 
 7. Leisure time. 
 
 8. Immigration. 
 
 9. Settlements. 
 
 10. Civic work. 
 
 11. Community organization. 
 
 12. Social work in schools. 
 
 It will be observed that some portions of 
 these fields of social work have already become 
 officialized and that many of them are semi- 
 official in nature. As the science of social work 
 increases there is a tendency to subdivide the 
 various fields. Nearly all social workers have 
 some contact with governmental agencies, and 
 the influence of voluntary agencies over official 
 agencies has been extensive. 
 
 The above classification of fields of work 
 includes recreation, industry, and several other 
 activities which are not ordinarily considered as 
 
92 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 belonging to the type of organization now 
 under discussion. "Social work" is rapidly be- 
 coming a phrase which includes all phases of 
 social improvement or amelioration. Charity 
 organizations, recreation organizations, reform 
 organizations, and educational organizations 
 conform largely to the same type. 
 
 Sociable organizations are in the nature of 
 clubs, societies, and fraternities which begin 
 their existence in the interest of serving the 
 sociable needs of a like-minded group. In 
 nearly all cases, such organizations develop a 
 more extended program; they frequently be- 
 come agencies for performing some special 
 piece of social service. Women's clubs, farm- 
 ers' clubs, dramatic clubs, book clubs, boys' 
 and girls' clubs, secret societies, fraternities and 
 kindred organizations have their original im- 
 pulses in the desire for sociability. There are, 
 of course, mixed motives and it is not at all 
 unusual to find an organization with a more 
 serious purpose develop later into a sociable 
 institution. The rule, however, is the opposite, 
 excepting in those cases where a natural growth 
 in the community causes a division of labor and 
 the bringing into existence of new agencies. 
 
 The interesting feature about sociable organi- 
 zations as developed up to the present is their 
 specialized membership. They seldom attempt 
 
NEEDS AND AGENCIES 93 
 
 democracy in organization. New members 
 must be voted in on the basis of some common 
 standard of success, achievement, sex, occupa- 
 tion, or social status. In recent years there have 
 been attempts at democratic neighborhood and 
 community organizations on a sociable basis, 
 but there is as yet no sufficient experience upon 
 which to base conclusions regarding the per- 
 manency of such organizations. 
 
 Commercial and cooperative organizations 
 are based upon the theory of collective effective- 
 ness in the sphere of economics. The old 
 Board of Trade was a purely economic organi- 
 zation whose purpose was to enhance the pe- 
 cuniary success of its members. The modern 
 Chamber of Commerce, which grew out of its 
 prototype the Board of Trade, is developing 
 along other than purely economic lines. It has 
 committees or bureaus which deal with civic 
 and social problems, and frequently it is the 
 nucleus for purely social agencies. The direct 
 and most important activities of the Chambers 
 of Commerce are still, however, economic or 
 commercial. 
 
 Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs cannot be classi- 
 fied definitely as commercial organizations. 
 They are in reality organized expressions of 
 the service ideal in business and professional 
 life. Their predominant membership is drawn 
 
94 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 from the classes which deal in commerce and 
 trade, and they gradually develop interests and 
 activities which represent the psychology of the 
 commercial classes. Merchants' associations, 
 councils or associations of persons engaged in 
 promoting the same trade (building trades, 
 etc.), and similar organizations should all be 
 considered as voluntary commercial organiza- 
 tions. 
 
 Cooperative organizations have always been 
 tinged with motives which are above mere eco- 
 nomic gain. The social and spiritual values of 
 cooperative organizations have been much em- 
 phasized in literature, but unfortunately they 
 have been sorely lacking in practice. There are 
 indications that the future appeals and the 
 future practices will contain other than eco- 
 nomic factors. The educational and social fea- 
 tures of British, Irish, Danish and Russian co- 
 operatives give promise of far greater future 
 emphasis on the social and spiritual basis of 
 economic cooperative ventures. 
 
 Religious organizations are of two types: 
 those which are denominational or sectarian in 
 composition, and those which are inter-denomi- 
 national. Such organizations came into exist- 
 ence as a result of certain unfilled needs among 
 special groupings. Step by step the churches 
 have turned over certain functions to private 
 
NEEDS AND AGENCIES 95 
 
 and public agencies. But the churches were not 
 contented to withdraw all of their influences, 
 and distinctly religious organizations and 
 agencies are the result. 
 
 The two most prominent inter-denomina- 
 tional agencies in the United States are the 
 Young Men's Christian Association and the 
 Young Women's Christian Association. While 
 these institutions do not cut across all denomi- 
 national or sectarian lines, they include in their 
 membership adherents of the Christian faith of 
 nearly all of the Protestant churches. They 
 have developed a specialized technique and pro- 
 fessionalized leadership. A thorough system 
 of collegiate training, fitting students for Asso- 
 ciation professions, is supplemented by numer- 
 ous summer training schools and institutes. 
 Their objectives are to meet the special reli- 
 gious, recreational, educational and sociable 
 needs of girls and women and of boys and men. 
 They represent the churches at work in meet- 
 ing community needs, but unlike other volun- 
 tary agencies their programs are all motivated 
 by distinctly religious impulses. The recent 
 developments in both Associations point to an 
 evolution in program policy which will greatly 
 increase their services to ever-widening groups. 
 
 The programs of the two great inter-denomi- 
 national agencies have already reached the 
 
96 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 stage of differentiation of function. Thus there 
 are secretaries who deal with boys alone; secre- 
 taries who deal with younger girls; secretaries 
 who deal with industrial workers; secretaries 
 who deal with boys and girls of town and 
 country; secretaries who deal with continuation 
 education; secretaries who deal with the 
 foreign-born; secretaries who deal with college 
 students. 
 
 The Jewish Young Men's Associations and 
 the Knights of Columbus are to the Jewish 
 people and to the members of the Catholic 
 churches what the Young Men's and Young 
 Women's Christian Associations are to the 
 Protestant churches. 
 
 All of these agencies tend to become true 
 institutions functioning on a permanent basis in 
 community life. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 The local chapters of the American Red 
 Cross, and the Parent-Teacher Associations, 
 Community Chautauquas, local Community 
 Service organizations, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 
 missionary societies, granges, farm bureaus, and 
 numerous other agencies and organizations now 
 exist in many American communities. They 
 have all arisen to meet some definite community 
 
NEEDS AND AGENCIES 97 
 
 need. The various aspects of the problems 
 raised by these voluntary agencies will be con- 
 sidered in the next chapter. 
 
 STUDENT'S PROBLEMS 
 
 1. Classify the various age-groups in your 
 community; opposite each group state the 
 various needs of that group according to 
 the classification used on the first page of 
 this chapter. 
 
 2. Check off all needs that are now being met 
 by some agency; name the agency. 
 
 3. Make a list of all unfilled needs, and sug- 
 gest the agencies which are suited to meet 
 these needs. 
 
 4. Make a list of all of your primary needs 
 and all of your secondary needs. 
 
 5. Why do the needs of industrial populations 
 increase more rapidly than the needs of 
 agricultural populations? 
 
 6. Why do many voluntary agencies seek to 
 have governmental agencies take over their 
 programs? 
 
 7. Should municipal officers be elected or ap- 
 pointed? Why? 
 
 8. Construct list of all voluntary agencies in: 
 
 (a) City community. 
 
 (b) A village. 
 
 (c) An open country community. 
 
98 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 (d) ' A state. 
 
 (e) The United States. 
 
 9. Why are sociable organizations more vari- 
 able in different communities than commer- 
 cial or social work organizations? 
 
 10. Is the economic motive sufficient to make a 
 cooperative organization permanently suc- 
 cessful? 
 
 11. Is it possible to have religious service 
 agencies without denominational relation- 
 ships? 
 
 12. Study the history of one of the older volun- 
 tary agencies. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 INSTITUTIONALISE! AND THE DIVISION 
 OF LABOR 
 
 A modern community which sustains numer- 
 ous agencies and organizations promoting social 
 welfare must sooner or later answer these 
 questions : 
 
 A. Which is more important, the individual's 
 loyalty to an institution, or his loyalty to 
 his -community? 
 
 B. How many service agencies can a given 
 population support? 
 
 C. How can the service agencies be utilized 
 to the best advantage of the community, 
 without duplication of effort? 
 
 D. How can the community safeguard itself 
 from depleting its leadership through the 
 use of the same groups in all agencies ? 
 
 Answers to some of these questions were 
 hinted at in Chapters III and IV. They must 
 be faced once more in the consideration of 
 social agencies and movements. It has already 
 been pointed out that organizations become 
 
100 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 agencies with definite programs, and that 
 agencies, in their turn, become fixed institutions 
 in the life of the community. This process of 
 evolution has been characteristic of the Nine- 
 teenth and Twentieth Centuries. 
 
 The rapid rise of industrial organization 
 during this period has undoubtedly assisted in 
 the process of institutionalizing movements and 
 organizations. An industrial community is a 
 more fluid structure than an agricultural or 
 handicraft community. The fact of the fluidity 
 of the industrial community does not imply 
 that there are more social problems, but rather 
 that social problems are more intensified. It 
 implies further that there is a correspondingly 
 greater group in need of social services, and a 
 correspondingly smaller group of paternalistic 
 leaders. 
 
 The country community in the United States 
 had produced a small number of institutions 
 prior to the rise of industry. The church, the 
 school, the home, the country store, the grange 
 and the press were its chief forms of institution- 
 alism. These institutions were sufficient to 
 meet the needs of farmers prior to the time 
 when the farmers' products became world com- 
 modities and he became a world buyer. From 
 that time onward the farmer's life increased 
 in complexity, and the social service agencies are 
 
institutionalise: 
 
 101 
 
 now entering the rural field in response to actual 
 needs. 
 
 The great bulk of the institutions rendering 
 social services in the United States have come 
 into being in the last half century. Their origin 
 and rapid multiplication cannot be fully ex- 
 plained without consideration of at least two 
 other factors. The science of sociology un- 
 doubtedly exercised a powerful influence over 
 the development of social service agencies. 
 Sociology placed emphasis upon the social mal- 
 adjustments of a rapidly expanding population; 
 it gave publicity to the phenomena which are 
 now called social problems. In a more or less 
 contemporaneous sense the Protestant churches 
 of America acted as a similar factor. Chris- 
 tianity took on a new emphasis; it was called 
 the "social gospel." (This phrase implied that 
 the Christian religion had a worldly mission, 
 that the Kingdom of God was being interpreted 
 as an ideal to be achieved on earth.) Members 
 of Christian churches assumed a new attitude 
 toward "practical Christianity," or as it is 
 sometimes called "applied Christianity." A 
 sort of religious fervor suddenly permeated 
 social affairs, and poverty, crime, disease and 
 all forms of social maladjustment were re- 
 garded as evils to be fought with the strength 
 of the organized Church. The dictum which 
 
102 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 imposes upon us the charge to be our brother's 
 keeper was taken seriously. There can be little 
 doubt that this movement in the churches was 
 one of the primary forces in giving rise to our 
 present social agencies. 
 
 Loyalty to the Institution or the Group? 
 
 Institutions are inevitable in organized so- 
 ciety. And institutions in themselves are not 
 harmful. They become social dangers when 
 they proceed without a science and a philoso- 
 phy. It is obvious to the most casual observer 
 that our institutionalism lacks both scientific 
 principles and philosophic bases. It has grown 
 with but little conscious direction applied to its 
 relationship to larger social groups. Many of 
 our social agencies have become vested in- 
 terests; they lay claim to certain rights and 
 privileges which they guard zealously. It is 
 not an uncommon spectacle, in modern com- 
 munities, to find social agencies involved in dis- 
 sensions and quarrels, almost as deeply rooted 
 and as prejudicial as the old religious animosi- 
 ties. This cannot, of course, go on with safety. 
 
 In order to be successful and to maintain 
 enthusiasm, an institution must have a loyal 
 clientele. Can such a clientele be developed 
 without injury to the larger community inter- 
 
INSTITUTIONALISE! 103 
 
 ests? It can, if right principles are utilized. 
 Among such principles are : 
 
 (1) The recognition of the fact that man's 
 usefulness to mankind is enhanced by 
 the increase of his social regard. In 
 proportion to the degree in which man 
 is related rightly to an ever-increasing 
 and enlarging group, does he become 
 socially valuable. To narrow his in- 
 terests is to restrict his social growth. 
 
 (2) The recognition of the laws of volun- 
 tary aggregation and association among 
 human beings. 
 
 (a) An organization, or group, has cer- 
 tain elements of attraction which 
 draw persons to it. 
 
 (b) An organization has certain defi- 
 nite purposes which hold it to- 
 gether. 
 
 (c) An organization has ideals which 
 inspire the members. 
 
 (d) An organization has modes of ac- 
 tion which perpetuate dynamic in- 
 terest. 
 
 (e) An organization produces a period 
 of dispersal, in which its members 
 gain larger value by extending their 
 interests. 
 
 These two sets of principles involve a tech- 
 nique of organization and institutionalism, 
 
104 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 which is just now emerging from the chaos of 
 the last half century. Institutions which apply 
 them can solve one of their fundamental prob- 
 lems, namely the problem of maintaining a loyal 
 clientele without interfering with the unified 
 progress of the entire community group. 
 
 The most difficult lesson to learn is that 
 groups have a period of dispersal, a time when 
 their members should be sent out to larger tasks 
 and wider interests. Many institutions, in a 
 self-centered manner, attempt to "hold" their 
 members and their officers. If an institution is 
 sincerely socially-minded in its program, one of 
 its tasks will be to train its members for other 
 services. There is a mistaken notion that the 
 person who is vitally interested in the larger 
 group — the community — cannot possibly have 
 an intense loyalty to his smaller institution. 
 This is merely a misconception of the funda- 
 mental utility of institutions. They come into 
 existence as a result of community needs, and 
 they retain their standing in the community only 
 so long as they meet some definite needs. 
 There are exceptions to this rule, of course; 
 some institutions become vested interests and 
 maintain themselves on the basis of traditions 
 long after their periods of real usefulness have 
 passed. They have no organic separate ex- 
 istence; they are parts of the community — 
 
INSTITUTIONALISE! 105 
 
 organized parts for functioning purposes only. 
 When institutions forget this fact and assume 
 that they are separate entities, serving their 
 own ends with the aim of perpetuating them- 
 selves as institutions, they become dangerous to 
 the community interest. 
 
 Such institutions lay claim to loyalties which 
 are narrowing and eventually stifling. They de- 
 grade the individual's citizenship; they cause 
 the community to be exploited in the interest 
 of the institution. In their time they will learn 
 that "first things shall be first," and that their 
 self-centered attitude will be their own undoing. 
 A good citizen is one who thinks in community 
 terms. In order to achieve certain ends for his 
 community, he allies himself with agencies and 
 institutions which render definite services. In 
 a growing Democracy, this latter relationship 
 must always be secondary. The good citizen — 
 
 Thinks first of his family group ; 
 
 Next of his neighborhood group; 
 
 Next of his community group ; 
 
 Next of his institutional group; 
 
 Next of his county or district group ; 
 
 Next of his commonwealth or state group ; 
 
 Next of his national group ; 
 
 Next of his international or world group. 
 
106 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 These varieties of loyalties do not neces- 
 sarily imply conflicts of loyalty. The best citi- 
 zen is not the one who thinks exclusively in 
 terms of his family group. The best citizen is 
 the person who can distribute his loyalties so 
 that the highest use is made of his special 
 capacities. If all his energies go to a single 
 group, he is destined to become narrowly cir- 
 cumscribed. There are, of course, persons 
 whose capacities are so limited that they are 
 not to be expected to increase materially in 
 loyalty-capacity. Many more are trained in 
 the opposite direction, through affiliation with 
 some institutions whose ideals are narrow. 
 
 The Community Movement is now a halting, 
 vague and uncertain process, — largely because 
 of the deep inroads which institutions have 
 made upon the community loyalties of indi- 
 viduals. Such individuals are labeled institu- 
 tionally; they are known in the community for 
 their intense loyalty to this or that institution, 
 and not for their democratic citizenship in the 
 community. There are hopeful signs that in a 
 Democracy such labels will not "stick," and that 
 there is to be a readjustment which will in no 
 measure injure our modern institutions, but 
 which will give them their scientific place in the 
 community structure and process. The insti- 
 tutions which first learn this truth will be the 
 
INSTITUTIONALISM 107 
 
 ones privileged to render the greatest service in 
 the future, organized community. 
 
 (3) The recognition of the social law of the 
 division of labor. 
 
 As life increases in complexity it becomes 
 more social. That is to say, it creates more 
 needs which can only be met by cooperation. 
 Our primitive ancestors had fewer wants than 
 we have. They also had fewer diseases. Their 
 social organization was necessarily simple and 
 institutionalism played a very small part -in its 
 processes. The first institutions were extensive 
 rather than intensive in function. The evolu- 
 tion of institutional growth, in an increasingly 
 complex society, is from general programs to 
 specific programs. 
 
 The Institutional Evolution of the Church 
 
 The early Christian Church was an institu- 
 tion with generalized functions. Among these 
 functions were: 
 
 (a) Expounding religious doctrine. 
 
 (b) Religious and ethical education. 
 
 (c) General education. 
 
 (d) Economic control. 
 
 (e) Philanthropy. 
 
108 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 In addition to these functions there have 
 been, at various periods of the evolution of the 
 Church, other offices which the Church dis- 
 charged. It has at times been specifically politi- 
 cal in a semi-functionary sense. In its more 
 modern stages of evolution, some branches of 
 the Church have assumed recreational and 
 sociable functions, but these must be regarded 
 as atavistic phenomena and not as a part of the 
 more fundamental evolution. In an historical 
 sense, the evolution of the Church has been 
 from generalized function to specific function. 
 This has been particularly true of the Protes- 
 tant branch of the Christian Church, and for 
 the obvious reason that divided congregations 
 in a community could not continue to serve the 
 entire community. 
 
 Step by step, the Church relinquished parts 
 of its original or accrued functions. In the 
 United States the Church was explicitly sepa- 
 rated from the State, and from the sphere of 
 politics. Soon after the beginnings of the new 
 Nation, education was taken from the Church, 
 and a little later philanthropy followed. The 
 Church had long since abandoned economic 
 control. 
 
 During the last thirty years, or more, there 
 has been a distinct Church movement which 
 
INSTITUTIONALISE! 
 
 109 
 
 goes by the name of the "institutional church." 
 This movement is based upon the theory that 
 the Church is losing out in the institutional 
 rivalry of the times because it is not rendering 
 larger services for its members and the com- 
 munity 7 . Institutional churches provide play- 
 grounds, motion pictures, cafeterias and numer- 
 ous other services. From the sociological view- 
 point there are two possible dangers in this 
 movement. In the first place, it may prevent 
 division of labor in such service. In the second 
 place, the church at times makes of these serv- 
 ices vested interests, which will later make it 
 difficult for specialized agencies to function 
 properly in the community. There is an added 
 objection from the viewpoint of the church 
 itself, and that is the fact that the church's 
 fundamental function of religious, or spiritual 
 motivation, is likely to suffer when it is encum- 
 bered with the doing of many things. 
 
 In small communities where there is but one 
 church or in communities where there are a 
 small number of churches, it may be expedient 
 for the church to render certain social services. 
 If this is done with an idea based upon the 
 assumption that specialized agencies will be 
 brought to the community later to take over 
 
110 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 these services, such a program must be recog- 
 nized as one of great value. 
 
 The law of the division of labor is based 
 upon the following premises : 
 
 (a) A specialized agency can perform serv- 
 ices more efficiently than a general one. 
 
 (b) The institution which initiates a pro- 
 gram, and then develops other agencies 
 to take over this program, thereby re- 
 tains more energy and time for its 
 specialty. 
 
 (c) A generalized program is likely to de- 
 tract from the institution's primary 
 function. 
 
 (d) The specialized agencies have been 
 called into existence as a result of the 
 increasing complexity of modern social 
 living. Their mission will be seriously 
 hampered if generalized agencies pro- 
 mote similar programs. 
 
 (e) The specialized agencies are here, and 
 most of them are likely to remain. 
 General programs, promoted by institu- 
 tions, are destined to produce serious 
 overlapping and duplication of work. 
 
 A consideration of the law of the division of 
 labor indicates that modern institutions grow 
 by the loss of function, and not by the increase 
 of function. In other words, they increase the 
 
INSTITUTIONALISM 1 1 1 
 
 intensity of their programs when in healthy 
 growth ; conversely, they extend their programs 
 when they have become pathological and out of 
 harmony with modern social process. 
 
 The Church has been selected as an illustra- 
 tion of the law of division of labor. The same 
 principle applies to all other institutions. The 
 school center movement may appear to be an 
 exception to the rule. Upon closer study it will 
 be revealed that this is not the case. The suc- 
 cessful school centers are not reestablishing lost 
 functions; they are rather assuming new or 
 neglected functions. The most successful 
 school centers are those in which the highest 
 and best use is made of the specialized agencies 
 of the community. The institutional church 
 movement may be said to have had insufficient 
 time to demonstrate its program. This may 
 be true, but there is no scientific evidence that 
 the institutional churches of longest standing 
 have increased in spiritual power. This must 
 be the final test. In the concluding chapter, 
 this question will be approached from the stand- 
 point of the coming function of the Church in 
 the organized community. The positive issues, 
 which may not appear clearly at this time, will 
 then be brought forward. 
 
112 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 How Many Agencies Can a Community 
 Support? 
 
 There is little scientific study upon which an 
 answer to this query may be based. The facts 
 in regard to one community may throw some 
 light on the problem. 
 
 In this community there are eighteen thou- 
 sand people. In addition to twenty-two churches 
 and six schools, there are twenty-three special- 
 ized service agencies. Sixteen of these agencies 
 employ paid workers. All of them raise funds 
 by subscription and through memberships. 
 The time came when there was felt to be a need 
 of another agency. The leading citizens, upon 
 whose shoulders fell the burden of economic 
 support, agreed that the need existed. Serious 
 attempts were made to create favorable senti- 
 ment. There was no discoverable objection to 
 the proposed new agency. Finally, a small 
 group of citizens decided to make a study of the 
 community's resources, to determine whether or 
 not there were any tangible economic barriers. 
 Their conclusion was that such barriers existed, 
 and that it was not possible to introduce the new 
 agency without injury to those already estab- 
 lished. Further investigation by persons who 
 were not citizens of this community sustained 
 this opinion. 
 
INSTITUTIONALISE! 113 
 
 The above example does not imply that there 
 is a definite ratio between a given population 
 and the number of agencies which it can sup- 
 port. This is but one of the factors to be con- 
 sidered. Other factors are : 
 
 (a) Do the existing agencies function effi- 
 ciently? 
 
 (b) Is the supporting clientele of the exist- 
 ing agencies too limited in number? 
 
 (c) Is there a period of financial depression? 
 
 (d) Are the existing agencies willing to co- 
 operate in bringing the new agency to 
 the community? 
 
 In Chapter IX the processes which are in- 
 volved in the community's action will be dis- 
 cussed. This discussion should reveal other 
 factors which affect the number of service 
 agencies which a community can support. It 
 becomes increasingly pertinent that some scien- 
 tific principles must be applied to this problem. 
 These principles await further study. 
 
 How May Duplication Be Prevented? 
 
 At this juncture it is sufficient to say that 
 duplication of effort among social agencies is 
 inevitable, so long as the law of the division of 
 labor is not recognized. Mere duplication is 
 not in itself harmful; it becomes harmful when 
 
114 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 it is not recognized as duplication, or when the 
 duplicating agencies insist upon "holding fast" 
 to an established program. The process of 
 eliminating duplication should not be allowed 
 to become a mere delimiting of function. Em- 
 phasis should rather be placed upon insisting 
 that the specialized agencies cover their special 
 fields thoroughly. Wherever duplication occurs 
 it is safe to conclude that some agencies are not 
 doing effective work in their specialized fields 
 of service. The best utilization of service 
 agencies can only be secured when such agencies 
 are coordinated by means of a council, or fed- 
 eration, of all agencies. Inasmuch as this in- 
 volves one of the phases of community organi- 
 zation, it will be discussed later. 
 
 The Diminishing Returns of Overworked 
 Leadership 
 
 The overhead machinery of the social 
 agencies of a modern community presents a 
 tangle of "interlocking directorates." The 
 same personnel, with only minor exceptions, is 
 used in nearly all of the agencies and institutions 
 of the community. The answer to the question, 
 "How can the community safeguard itself 
 from depleting its leadership, through the use 
 of the same groups in all agencies?" is con- 
 tained in the word "Democracy." 
 
INSTITUTIONALISM 115 
 
 The urge toward leadership is stronger and 
 more commonly distributed than is generally 
 supposed. We lack leadership because we lack 
 faith in the so-called common man. We use the 
 same leaders over and over until they reach the 
 point of diminishing returns, and then we flatten 
 out on the plane of inertia. 
 
 We use the same leadership in all movements 
 because we have an erroneous concept of the 
 elements of leadership. We assume that be- 
 cause a person has won success in some form, 
 he is destined to be successful in others. There 
 is a modicum of truth in this assumption, but 
 there is also a burden of error. The major 
 financial support for most of our institutions 
 comes from persons of wealth. This is their 
 rightful contribution. It is a misapprehension, 
 however, to conclude that because they have 
 wealth they must also have the ability to wisely 
 direct social movements. From the standpoint 
 of democratic process, it is also unjust to place 
 the control of institutions in the hands of those 
 who furnish the major portion of the economic 
 support. It would not be good political science 
 to assume that the citizen who paid the largest 
 amount in taxes should be the person with the 
 greatest influence in government. That this 
 assumption is made, and that it is acted upon, 
 is not to be denied; it is, however, unsound 
 
116 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 political science. It is equally unsound in prin- 
 ciple when applied to the social institutions. 
 Social institutions should be supported in pro- 
 portion to economic capacity, but they should 
 be directed according to intellectual and social 
 capacity. 
 
 When a person invests money in an institu- 
 tion he is likely to be interested in the manage- 
 ment of that institution. There is no legiti- 
 mate objection to this accepted axiom. The 
 great difficulty with most of our institutions is 
 that they are supported by too few people. 
 The man who contributes the dollar may be 
 more valuable to the management of the insti- 
 tution than the man who contributes one thou- 
 sand dollars. He may have great poten- 
 tialities for leadership. We have grossly 
 neglected him. When social institutions are 
 more definitely related to the community by 
 means of community organization, we shall 
 have greatly increased resources of leadership. 
 
 STUDENT'S PROBLEMS 
 
 1. Compare the number of social institutions 
 in a rural and an urban community. 
 
 2. Secure the dates of the foundation of fif- 
 teen prominent social agencies in the 
 United States. Compare these dates with 
 
INSTITUTIONALISE! 
 
 117 
 
 economic and political movements which 
 were more or less contemporaneous. 
 
 3. Name three Church leaders responsible for 
 the rise of the emphasis upon .the social 
 implications of the Christian religion. 
 Discuss their contributions. 
 
 4. Analyze your membership in some institu- 
 tion, according to the theory of group at- 
 traction, ideals, purposes, action and dis- 
 persal. 
 
 5. Study types of citizenship according to the 
 circumference of their social regard; 'be- 
 ginning with the family and ending with 
 the human family, or the world. 
 
 6. Make an analysis of the evolution of the 
 family, in the light of the law of the divi- 
 sion of labor. 
 
 7. Study other institutions such as the Young 
 Men's Christian Association, organized 
 charities, etc. 
 
 8. Does the law of the division of labor in 
 social affairs have any similarities to the 
 corresponding law in industrial affairs? 
 Discuss and analyze these similarities. 
 
 9. Study the budgets of the social agencies of 
 some community. Compare these figures 
 with the wealth resources of the com- 
 munity. Compare the studies of all mem- 
 bers of the class, with a view to charting 
 the factors of wealth, number of agencies 
 and population. 
 
118 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 10. Study the social agencies of some com- 
 munity to discover the amount and the na- 
 ture of duplication of effort. 
 
 11. Study the social agencies of some com- 
 munity with the view of determining the 
 extent of duplication of leadership. 
 
 12. What plans would you suggest to institu- 
 tions desiring to increase the number and 
 worth of their leaders? 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE PROCESS OF COMMUNITY ACTION 
 
 The community as a social body seldom acts 
 as a single unit. Its achievements are more 
 likely to be the result of the activities of a few 
 coordinated groups within the community. 
 The ideal Democratic Community would' be 
 completely articulated; all of its parts would 
 be related to the community process. Such 
 communities do not exist, nor has the demo- 
 cratic idea been adequately applied to com- 
 munity action. There are indications that 
 many communities are groping toward this 
 ideal, however, and the substance of this chap- 
 ter is based upon these gropings. 
 
 In our present state of group organization 
 and of institutional allegiances, it is folly to 
 think of the community as an association of in- 
 dividuals. It is an association of groups. In 
 the functional sense, it is these groups which 
 give direction and policy to community action. 
 In making the study which forms the basis of 
 this chapter, community projects were con- 
 sidered. They were not in a strict manner 
 
120 
 
 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 community projects, but projects which some 
 groups in the community promoted for the pre- 
 sumed good of the community. One group 
 wished to establish a chamber of commerce, 
 another a Young Women's Christian Associa- 
 tion, another a playground. Slightly more than 
 seven hundred such projects have been studied 
 with the aim of determining whether, or not, 
 any psychological and sociological facts might 
 be induced. 
 
 The interpretation of this study will be aided 
 by reference to the theory of Democracy, as 
 discussed in Chapter VI. 
 
 The Democratic Process cannot be dia- 
 gramed with the individual at the center, and 
 the group at the circumference. Neither can it 
 be pictured with the group at the center and 
 the individual at the circumference. A new 
 graph is needed. The circle is not adequate. 
 An ellipse with the individual and the group as 
 focal points, equi-distant from each other and 
 from the circumference, will be more service- 
 able. 
 
 Steps in Community Action 
 
 It appears that there are certain definite 
 steps which community groups pass through in 
 arriving at points of action. The division of 
 these steps, here attempted, is quite arbitrary, 
 
COMMUNITY ACTION 
 
 121 
 
 and should not be considered in a strictly scien- 
 tific manner. Persons who have studied these 
 summaries do not agree on the classification 
 here used. Further study and analysis of a 
 larger number of projects may change the 
 classification materially. 
 
 A portion of these steps in community action 
 are sociological, and some are psychological. 
 There is no apparent means by which the 
 sciences of sociology and of social psychology 
 can be separated in this analysis. 
 
 Step Number One 
 Consciousness of need; some person, either 
 within or without the community, expresses the 
 need which is later represented by the definite 
 project. 
 
 Step Number Two 
 Spreading the consciousness of need; a 
 leader, within some institution or group within 
 the community, convinces his or her group, or 
 a portion of the group, of the reality of the 
 need. 
 
 Step Number Three 
 Projection of consciousness of need; the 
 group interested attempts to project the con- 
 sciousness of need upon the leadership of the 
 community; the consciousness of need becomes 
 more general. 
 
122 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 Step Number Four 
 
 Emotional impulse to meet the need quickly; 
 some influential assistance is enlisted, in the 
 attempt to arrive at a quick means of meeting 
 the need. 
 
 Step Number Five 
 
 Presentation of other solutions; other means 
 of meeting the need are presented. 
 
 Step Number Six 
 
 Conflict of solutions; various groups lend 
 their support to one or the other of the various 
 solutions presented. 
 
 Step Number Seven 
 
 Investigation; it appears to be increasingly 
 customary to pause at this point, and to inves- 
 tigate the project with expert assistance. 
 (This step, however, is usually omitted and the 
 following one takes its place.) 
 
 Step Number Eight 
 
 Open discussion of issue; a public mass meet- 
 ing or gathering of some sort is held, at which 
 the project is presented, and the groups with 
 most influence attempt to secure adoption of 
 their plans. 
 
COMMUNITY ACTION 123 
 
 Step Number Nine 
 
 Integration of solutions; the various solu- 
 tions presented are tested, with an effort to re- 
 tain something out of each, in the practicable 
 solution which is now emerging. 
 
 Step Number Ten 
 
 Compromise on basis of tentative progress; 
 certain groups relinquish certain elements of 
 their plans in order to save themselves from 
 complete defeat, and the solution which results 
 is a compromise with certain reservations. The 
 means selected for meeting the need are not 
 satisfactory to all groups, but are regarded as 
 tentatively progressive. 
 
 Many projects end at Step Number Four, 
 on the emotional plane. Other projects are 
 closed, either favorably or unfavorably, at 
 some one of the following six steps. (It must 
 be remembered that all projects do not origi- 
 nate in the manner here indicated, nor do all of 
 them pass through all of these steps. This Out- 
 line merely represents the procedure that 
 emerges from a study of those projects which 
 are more or less typical of the processes that 
 make up the present stage of community ac- 
 tion.) The ten steps described will now be con- 
 sidered in detail: 
 
124 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 Consciousness of need. The consciousness 
 of a need may appear on account of an emo- 
 tional, intellectual, or accidental cause. Fre- 
 quently some misfortune to a member of the 
 community brings about the sudden revelation 
 that the community lacks the means for the 
 prevention of such a catastrophe. Upon this 
 accidental basis many projects receive their 
 original impetus. Occasionally some speaker 
 moves the community to a realization of its 
 needs. In some communities there are intel- 
 lectual circles in which problems of a social 
 nature are discussed; such discussion frequently 
 leads to definite realization of needs. 
 
 Service agencies and investigative agencies 
 are sometimes invited to study communities 
 with the object of discovering needs. There 
 are wide differences of opinion and misunder- 
 standings in regard to this method of approach 
 to the needs of communities. Many contend 
 that such agencies often "manufacture" certain 
 needs, which call for the services of the particu- 
 lar agency making the study. This undoubtedly 
 happens in many instances, and the particular 
 bias, which motivates the workers of an agency, 
 is apt to cause incorrect interpretations. 
 
 The study of over seven hundred community 
 projects does not reveal that the ultimate suc- 
 cess of a project is affected by the manner in 
 
COMMUNITY ACTION 125 
 
 which the consciousness of need originates. The 
 manner in which the project proceeds, after it 
 has once been started, is intimately related to 
 the theory of Democracy, and is highly impor- 
 tant in so far as ultimate success is concerned. 
 The most frequent cause for failure in relation 
 to this first step is haste. Most enthusiasts, 
 especially those representing an "outside" serv- 
 ice agency, do not take sufficient pains and exer- 
 cise full patience in the process of spreading the 
 consciousness of need in the community. 
 
 Spreading the consciousness of need. If the 
 need becomes conscious in the mind of a recog- 
 nized leader of ample experience in the given 
 community, it usually follows that the right 
 method of spreading this consciousness is uti- 
 lized. But most communities have several 
 types of leaders. There are true leaders, false 
 leaders, assumed leaders, presumed leaders, 
 self-imposed leaders, accidental leaders, leaders 
 out-of-their-sphere, selfish leaders, social-pres- 
 tige leaders, economic-prestige leaders, politi- 
 cal-prestige leaders and leaders undiscovered. 
 The relation between leadership and the Demo- 
 cratic Process will be discussed in a succeeding 
 chapter, and is mentioned here only to indicate 
 its vital importance in community action. 
 
 The good leader has a following; it may be 
 within a church, a business group, a labor union, 
 
126 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 or a sociable club. This following is psycho- 
 logically receptive to ideas emanating from its 
 leader. As regards most projects, in modern 
 communities, some such leader takes the ini- 
 tiative in spreading the consciousness of need 
 within his group or following. This mode of 
 action is now so prevalent in our communities 
 that its acceptance amounts almost to an axiom. 
 Projects which are just emerging from the con- 
 sciousness of need stage are spoken of in rela- 
 tion to some particular group. "If Blank 
 Group takes this matter up, it will succeed," is 
 the terse idiomatic expression of this theory. 
 
 Projection of consciousness of need. There 
 are cross-currents of group allegiances, within 
 the group, which are utilized in spreading the 
 consciousness of need. Many of its members 
 are also related to other groups in a vital 
 manner. Through these members other vital- 
 interest groups are brought within the sphere of 
 consciousness of need. 
 
 Friction often develops at this point. If 
 there are jealousies between these various 
 groups, and there usually are, suspicions arise. 
 The question of who is to receive the "credit," 
 meaning the glory and honor, for this particu- 
 lar project, in case it succeeds, affects the recep- 
 tivity of other groups. This is to be expected 
 and is not in any important degree dangerous. 
 
COMMUNITY ACTION 127 
 
 It merely points to the necessity of inter-group 
 coordination. Where such coordination is 
 totally lacking, projects are invariably "put 
 through" in an anti-democratic fashion. Con- 
 versely, where such coordination exists, there is 
 little fear of applying the principles of Democ- 
 racy. 
 
 There is as yet a scant amount of theory and 
 principle in regard to the action of these vital- 
 interest groups. They are not yet accepted in 
 fact as being vital; they are not accepted as 
 dominant realities ; and until they are there will 
 be little science in community action. 
 
 The inter-action of leaders and groups is an 
 effective way of projecting the consciousness of 
 need upon the community. In city communities, 
 the press and other avenues of communication 
 are utilized in bringing the issue to the attention 
 of the organized and unorganized mass of the 
 people. During periods of great stress and un- 
 balanced emotionalism, such as war periods, cer- 
 tain methods of publicity may be used which are 
 totally unsuccessful in the more calm and peace- 
 ful times. If patriotism to the larger unit, the 
 state or nation, may be invoked, publicity takes 
 on an imperious and compulsory air. The need 
 becomes a peril, and the consciousness of the 
 need becomes a duty. When the psychology of 
 the public is in a normal state, the publicity of a 
 
128 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 project must make a double appeal; it must 
 reach the intellect as well as the emotions. 
 
 The most effective means of projecting the 
 consciousness of need are group meetings and 
 discussions. Each vital-interest group ap- 
 proaches the issue with a slightly different view- 
 point, interpreted, of course, with a group bias. 
 These various viewpoints throw new light on 
 the need, and educate many people to a new 
 insight into the community process. This 
 method also produces the result of fairness and 
 of willingness to submit to the rigors of debate. 
 In large communities, this method must be sup- 
 plemented by the more general types of pub- 
 licity. 
 
 Emotional impulse to meet the need quickly. 
 During the process of projecting the need 
 through the various groups of the community, 
 it usually occurs that some leader or some group 
 makes a proposal for a quick solution of the 
 problem. There appears a sudden impulse of 
 shame, coupled with pride; the community's 
 honor is placed at stake. Hurried conferences 
 with small groups, emotionalized publicity, and 
 semi-religious fervor accompany this step. 
 Something must be done and at once ! 
 
 Study of numerous projects reveals the fact 
 that it is unwise to arrive at a solution of a 
 problem at this point. The emotional solution 
 
COMMUNITY ACTION 
 
 129 
 
 is likely to prevent ample discussion. It "heads 
 off" certain conflicts and objections which have 
 not yet emerged. Existing agencies are over- 
 looked. The wrong type of leadership is 
 selected, for it is seldom that the emotional 
 leader can also be the one who can construct a 
 workable program, for the days after the emo- 
 tional interest has spent itself. 
 
 It is a common occurrence to witness a trans- 
 fer of leadership during this step. The person 
 or the group that originated the project is rele- 
 gated to the background, while the person or 
 the group with the emotional appeal comes into 
 ascendancy. 
 
 The leader who attempts to use scientific 
 principles in promoting community projects is 
 likely to make the error of overlooking the 
 value of this emotional interest. It has deep 
 values which need to be utilized. The emotional 
 leaders have an important role in the com- 
 munity process, and it is dangerous to allow 
 them to suffer defeat. Emotionalism must be 
 intellectualized. This cannot take place in the 
 community process without discussion and con- 
 flict. 
 
 Presentation of other solutions. If the emo- 
 tional impetus is not sufficiently strong to con- 
 summate the project, various solutions are pre- 
 sented by other leaders and groups. To many 
 
130 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 leaders this appears to be a stage of unneces- 
 sary delay. They chafe under this delay and 
 sometimes unjustly ascribe ulterior motives to 
 those who cause the postponement. There are, 
 of course, many cases in which this is true ; cer- 
 tain obstructionist elements in the community 
 use the emotional period as an effective time for 
 imposing obstacles. It is more frequently true, 
 however, that those who present other solutions 
 are merely expressing an interest, generated 
 within their vital-interest groups. This interest 
 should be conserved. It becomes invaluable in 
 the succeeding step. 
 
 Conflict of solutions. The subterranean con- 
 flicts within the community need to be brought 
 to the surface. They continue to be dangerous 
 to community action so long as they remain ob- 
 scured. They may be mere divergences of 
 opinion in the beginning, but if left in the dark 
 they become real conflicts between individuals 
 and groups. 
 
 It is at this point that leadership again comes 
 to trial. The leader imbued with the ideals of 
 Democracy welcomes the conflict. The auto- 
 cratic leader attempts to submerge the conflict, 
 or to proceed as though it did not exist. The 
 submerged conflicts never remain submerged. 
 They reappear to haunt the community through 
 all its action. Moreover, they increase in in- 
 
COMMUNITY ACTION 131 
 
 tensity with time, and sometimes reach the 
 stage of bitterness and hatred. Projects which 
 are consummated at this stage appear to be suc- 
 cessful for a number of years, but there comes 
 a time when the old conflicts come to the sur- 
 face, and success is imperiled. 
 
 The leader, or the group, managing the 
 project, adopts one of two courses: a scientific 
 investigation of the project may be urged, or a 
 move may be made toward a Democratic dis- 
 cussion on a community-wide basis. Both 
 methods may be used. 
 
 Investigation. The investigative stage 
 should, of course, appear much earlier in the 
 process. It seldom does. There is an increas- 
 ing tendency toward investigations conducted 
 by certain agencies within the community, or by 
 some expert called in from the outside. The 
 investigation is ordinarily used at the point 
 when it is believed that scientific testimony will 
 outweigh objections. This means that it usually 
 comes during the later stages of community 
 action. 
 
 In such organizations as chambers of com- 
 merce it is coming to be the practice to appoint 
 special committees to study certain proposed 
 projects, in the light of what other communities 
 have done. The reports of these committees 
 
132 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 are then used in public meetings as the impelling 
 force. 
 
 If no investigation is ordered, and if the 
 project cannot be consummated within the 
 vital-interest groups, an appeal is made to the 
 general public. This appeal also comes follow- 
 ing the investigation. 
 
 Open discussion of issue. Most American 
 communities continue a faith in mass action; at 
 least they simulate such a faith. There are 
 many grounds for believing that the so-called 
 dynamic leaders of our communities, in actual- 
 ity, place their faith in individual or group 
 action. The Democratic Process has certain 
 traditional and lingering affections in the minds 
 of even those who disobey its principles. Most 
 leaders like to think that they have acted demo- 
 cratically, and it frequently happens that those 
 who are least capable of utilizing Democracy 
 speak most loudly in its praise. 
 
 The community mass-meeting is our favor- 
 ite recourse. A mass-meeting is a place of open 
 and free discussion. It is the free-born citizen's 
 opportunity for expression. Under modern 
 methods of manipulation of mass psychology, 
 it often becomes a degenerate farce of Democ- 
 racy. Every detail of the meeting is planned in 
 advance by the leaders. Speakers are "primed" 
 to say the right thing at the right time. The 
 
COMMUNITY ACTION 
 
 133 
 
 objectors are silenced by the preponderance of 
 opposite evidence. Step by step, the engineers 
 of the mass-meeting lead the audience on to its 
 "spontaneous" support of the project. This 
 type of mass-meeting is even more dangerous 
 than the emotional effervescence, discussed 
 above. It is more dangerous because it is dis- 
 honest; it pretends to go through the motions 
 of Democratic action while its very purpose is 
 to defeat it. 
 
 Such meetings can be organized with such 
 skillful technique that all conflicts are sub- 
 merged. The discussions give no aid to the 
 rationalization of the project. Those who 
 came with the hope of making either a positive 
 or a negative contribution to the discussion go 
 away with a hidden feeling of resentment. In 
 their hearts they know that the meeting was 
 "fixed," and that their objections would not 
 have been welcomed or understood. It is this 
 type of maneuvering which has done so much 
 to make Democracy appear to be impractical. 
 Those who engage in this form of promotion 
 are the real enemies of Democracy. 
 
 It takes courage, the courage of firm convic- 
 tions, to permit conflicts to appear in a public 
 meeting. There must be a great deal of 
 righteousness and unselfishness on the side of 
 the proposed project before it can be attempted. 
 
134 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 But conflict is the only possible method by 
 which ideas can be clarified in group action. 
 When once the conflicting factors are brought 
 into the open, they lose most of their force; 
 providing, of course, that the conflicting factors 
 are based upon unjust objections. It may take 
 more time, and it certainly requires infinitely 
 more patience and faith in man to use the 
 Democratic Process. The world now awaits 
 such patience, faith and courage. If Democ- 
 racy cannot be applied to the problems of the 
 small local community, how futile it is to speak 
 of it as a national or an international ideal ! 
 
 Integration of solutions. The various solu- 
 tions for a project, which appear during its 
 process, cannot be added together. Arithmeti- 
 cal methods cannot be applied to human and 
 psychological processes. The final solution 
 which emerges from discussion must be an inte- 
 gration of all solutions. The integrating pro- 
 cess does not wholly eliminate any one group. 
 It may eliminate all of that group's proposed 
 solution, but it will not reject that group's 
 contribution to the discussion; the group will 
 feel that it has in some manner affected the final 
 consummation of the project. 
 
 In the integrating process it is highly im- 
 portant not to break down the various ^roup 
 allegiances. There may be the temptation to 
 
COMMUNITY ACTION 135 
 
 capitalize certain elements of other groups who 
 were not in entire accord with the group's posi- 
 tion. It may appear an easy matter to deflect 
 these elements from their vital-interest group 
 allegiances. The leader who takes a long look 
 ahead will refrain from following this step. 
 The best interests of the community will be 
 conserved if these allegiances are maintained. 
 The next project which appears will cause dif- 
 fering positions within the groups. 
 
 The acceptance of the integrated solution 
 will not satisfy all parties entirely. In fact, it 
 will not prove to be a good solution unless the 
 community is trained to approve of tentative 
 progress. 
 
 Compromise on the basis of tentative prog- 
 ress. All progress is tentative. The absolutist 
 overlooks this fact. He wants absolute and not 
 tentative progress. His complete program 
 must be adopted. Communities can be trained 
 to accept the theory of tentative progress, if 
 their leadership emphasizes agreements and 
 minimizes differences in the final solution. No 
 self-respecting person desires to be known as 
 a compromiser. The implication of that term 
 is that compromises level downward. As a 
 matter of plain fact, all of life is a compromise. 
 We must learn how to make compromises level 
 upward. 
 
136 
 
 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 The perfect solution of a project is seldom 
 achieved. It might be harmful if this could 
 happen; it might leave too little room for the 
 adaptation of the project to the changing condi- 
 tions within the community. Those who lose 
 something in the integration of solutions also 
 gain. They permit the community to sense the 
 feeling of success. Their personal interests and 
 ideas may have suffered slight declines. There 
 is no necessity for the loss of ideals. They are 
 now organically related to the project. The 
 creative portions of their idealism may now 
 function in the unfolding of the project. Their 
 compromise has been a stepping-stone upon 
 which they have risen to greater achievement. 
 They have accepted tentative progress as one 
 means of reaching toward a more perfect 
 progress. 
 
 This complete process of community action 
 may be summarized in three stages: 
 
 First, Consciousness of need. 
 
 Second, Emotional desire to meet need. 
 
 Third, Intellectual solution, based upon so- 
 cial groupings. 
 
 The technique for the first two stages is more 
 or less simple. The last step is the most difficult 
 and the one which lacks technique. We have 
 become so accustomed to the acceptance of 
 
COMMUNITY ACTION 137 
 
 decisions by majority votes and by other modes, 
 derived principally from traditional politics, 
 that we fail to understand the complexities of 
 organic social process. As the social structure 
 increases in complexity, it will become more and 
 more imperative to recognize the role of the 
 vital-interest groups. The science of future 
 community action depends in a large measure 
 upon the development of means of coordination 
 between these groups, so that the community 
 interest will not suffer. This means community 
 organization on a non-political basis. 
 
 STUDENT'S PROBLEMS 
 
 1. Study a number of community projects; 
 divide the various stages of the project into 
 definite steps. 
 
 2. Write the history of some community 
 project, covering at least five years. 
 
 3. Construct the mode of procedure for a 
 project in some community of your ac- 
 quaintance, and describe the program 
 which you would follow if this project were 
 in your hands. 
 
 4. If you were employed by a service agency 
 to go to a community with the objective of 
 having the community adopt your program, 
 what initial steps would you take? 
 
138 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 5. Make a list of a number of projects which 
 have failed; analyze the causes of failure. 
 
 6. Make a list of a number of projects which 
 have succeeded; analyze the causes of suc- 
 cess. 
 
 7. Formulate the publicity program for a 
 playground project,, in a community of 
 10,000 population. 
 
 8. Formulate the publicity program for a 
 charity organization, in a community of 
 50,000 population. 
 
 9. Why does new leadership often appear 
 during the emotional stage? 
 
 10. Why does new leadership also frequently 
 appear at the stage of integration of solu- 
 tions? 
 
 11. Make an analysis of the compromise which 
 President Lincoln made in connection with 
 the Civil War. 
 
 12. Make a list of ten important decisions of 
 your life; analyze the compromises in- 
 volved. 
 
 13. Why are revolutions and other periods of 
 emotional excess usually followed by 
 periods of reaction? 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THEORIES AND PRINCIPLES OF COM- 
 MUNITY ORGANIZATION 
 
 The underlying forces which have produced 
 the Community Movement hiave also made it 
 necessary to devise some sort of social ma- 
 chinery which will give functional reality to the 
 movement. The Community Movement as a 
 social force and community organization as a 
 phase of social process should not be confused. 
 The essential problem of community organiza- 
 tion is to furnish a working relationship be- 
 tween the Democratic Process and Specialism. 
 The Democratic Process expresses itself, or is 
 personified in the total community membership. 
 The Specialist expresses himself, or is personi- 
 fied in the division of labor which produces 
 highly skilled persons and agencies, organiza- 
 tions, or institutions, equipped to do one thing 
 effectively. 
 
 The specialist, as an individual or as a repre- 
 sentative of an institution, can achieve more 
 rapidly in an autocratic environment in which 
 specialism is recognized scientifically. When 
 
140 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 scientific education becomes more or less uni- 
 versal, the specialist's progress will be more 
 direct and more rapid. But, in societies where 
 scientific education is not universal, the 
 specialist comes into what appears to be a di- 
 rect conflict with Democracy. The democratic 
 method is slow, cumbersome, halting and beset 
 with many back-eddies which seem to be anti- 
 progressive. The specialist becomes impatient 
 with all of this and desires to go straight 
 toward his goal. He knows. The constituents 
 of Democracy do not know, and must be shown 
 the way. The way may be long and devious but 
 it cannot be avoided; there is no short-cut 
 toward Democracy. If there were, it would be 
 u too light a thing" as an ideal, and the children 
 of earth would not suffer for its achievement. 
 
 Community organization exists wherever 
 Democracy and Specialism are approximating 
 working relationships. It may not be possible 
 to diagram this relationship, — for it may be 
 nothing more than an element of good-will, — 
 but it is nevertheless a phase of community or- 
 ganization which presages some later form of 
 mechanics of organization. There is a tendency 
 among many community organization enthu- 
 siasts to perfect a mechanical structure in ad- 
 vance of a social and spiritual foundation. 
 Charts and diagrams of schemes for community 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 141 
 
 organization have their value, if it is clearly 
 understood that they are mere pictures and that 
 they, like all pictures, depict but poorly the 
 image of a reality. Such pictorial schemes of 
 community organization contain dangers for 
 students, inasmuch as they portray something 
 which is almost wholly imaginary and which 
 does not exist in fact. Social engineering, as it 
 evolves toward the stage of art, will be more 
 closely akin to the art of the poet than to that 
 of the draughtsman or the painter. It will be 
 an expression of spirit and of function, rather 
 than of structure. 
 
 With this warning in mind, we may proceed 
 to the discussion of the theory and the me- 
 chanics of community organization. ( Nothing 
 is more characteristic of the American people 
 than is their tendency to organize. While social 
 organization is a natural process for human 
 beings in contiguity, it is with the American 
 people more than a natural process; it is a de- 
 veloped technique. There are some who call 
 it the American mark of genius, and it has ten- 
 dencies to go to extremes, like all manifestations 
 of genius. Unless we can develop a rational, 
 philosophic basis for our manifold organiza- 
 tions, we shall find ourselves consumed by their 
 machinery. "Not much can be done," says a 
 noted church leader, "until we have a president, 
 
142 
 
 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 a vice-president, a secretary and an executive 
 committee. Then the thing we desire to do 
 must be moved and seconded, and referred and 
 amended, and substituted and officially author- 
 ized by a formal vote. Still further, a com- 
 mittee must be appointed to carry out the man- 
 date of the chief body. Machinery, machinery, 
 machinery! Wheels and cogs, and pulleys, and 
 levers, and lathes, and magnetos, and dynamos, 
 and cylinders, and cylinder-rods, and cyclom- 
 eters galore ! How constitutions and by-laws 
 have taken possession of us! How personality 
 has been absorbed by the machine!" But ma- 
 chinery is necessary. There will be more rather 
 than less of it in the future. Our primary task 
 is to understand the machinery and then to 
 interpret it in terms of social and spiritual 
 values. This is no easy task after social ma- 
 chinery has been woven into traditionalism. 
 
 Types of Community Organization 
 
 Types of community organization, as con- 
 ceived theoretically, will be first studied. This 
 discussion will be followed by a discussion of a 
 number of organizations now in operation. 
 
 I. The Direct theory of community organi- 
 zation, — in which vital-interest groups, 
 agencies, organizations and institutions 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 143 
 
 are not regarded as important or vital. 
 The individual is related to the commu- 
 nity organization as an individual and by 
 right of his citizenship ; his group adher- 
 ence is minimized, while his community 
 adherence is emphasized. 
 
 It is customary in this form of organization 
 to insist upon the theory of pure Democracy, 
 and to attempt to approximate it in the struc- 
 ture of the community organization. Ordi- 
 narily, men and women above eighteen or 
 twenty-one years of age are considered as citi- 
 zens in the community, and hence related to the 
 community organization. 
 
 There are three general forms of this type 
 of community organization : 
 
 1. Including the total citizenship. 
 
 2. Including those who "join" a community 
 club [voluntary]. 
 
 3. Including those who "join" a neighbor- 
 hood club, which is related to the com- 
 munity organization organically. 
 
 All of these various forms of the direct 
 method of community organization function 
 through committees, appointed or elected to 
 perform special tasks. The responsible body 
 is the totality of the citizenship. 
 
 Arguments favoring the direct method of 
 community organization : 
 
144 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 (a) It prevents the domination of certain 
 "cliques" or agencies, organizations, or 
 institutions within the community. 
 
 (b) It assumes social equality, and thus con- 
 forms with our current political theory 
 of equality. 
 
 (c) It simplifies the definition of a com- 
 munity by utilizing the political unit. 
 
 (d) It restores elements of "lost citizen- 
 ship," which have been absorbed by the 
 vital-interest groups. 
 
 (e) It assumes a greater degree of per- 
 manence than is generally accredited to 
 institutional organization. 
 
 Arguments against the direct method of 
 community organization: 
 
 (a) It presupposes a degree of Democracy 
 which does not exist. 
 
 (b) It overlooks the actuality of the division 
 of labor among social agencies, organi- 
 zations and institutions. 
 
 (c) It assumes that the political forces will 
 always be dominant, while it seems ap- 
 parent that economic and social forces 
 are now in the ascendancy. 
 
 (d) It places altogether too little emphasis 
 upon the intensity of membership in a 
 vital-interest group. 
 
 (e) It makes no definite provisions for se- 
 curing the highest services of the 
 specialists. 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 145 
 
 II. The Indirect theory of community or- 
 ganization, — in which the individual is 
 related to the community organization 
 through his membership or adherence in 
 a vital-interest group. The total citizen- 
 ship is not included in the community or- 
 ganization, but receives its expression 
 through the coordination of groups. 
 
 There are three general forms of this type of 
 organization : 
 
 1. Federation of groups, agencies, organiza- 
 tions, or institutions whose functions are 
 similar, such as : 
 
 (a) Federations of churches. 
 
 (b) Federations of educational agencies. 
 
 (c) Federations of labor unions. 
 
 (d) Federations of women's clubs. 
 
 2. Federation of service or social work 
 agencies such as : 
 
 (a) Associated charities. 
 
 (b) Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. 
 
 (c) Salvation Army. 
 
 (d) Boy Scouts. 
 
 (e) Recreation associations. - 
 
 Note. In some cases governmental agencies 
 are related to this type of organization in an 
 unofficial sense. 
 
 3. Federations of all organizations, agencies 
 and institutions having service programs; 
 that is, a combination of 1 and 2 above. 
 
146 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 This type of community organization is 
 spreading very rapidly at the present time. 
 The word "federation," implying more or less 
 organic unity, is being supplanted by the terms 
 "exchange" or "council." The tendency seems 
 to be toward councils with advisory capacities 
 only; it is assumed that proper coordination will 
 result when the various agencies, organizations 
 and institutions reach a plane of mutual under- 
 standing. The motive for this type of organi- 
 zation is too frequently that of preventing 
 duplication, instead of insuring the greater 
 effectiveness of the various cooperating groups. 
 This type of organization received a great 
 impetus during the late War, when private and 
 group interests were subordinated to a marked 
 degree. It was discovered that the task of rais- 
 ing funds for the various groups could be ac- 
 complished with less effort if the budgets were 
 amalgamated. The "community budget" be- 
 came a popular undertaking, and led naturally 
 toward cooperation in program making as well 
 as in financing. Since the War there has been 
 a decided reaction against this tendency on the 
 part of a number of agencies. This reaction, 
 however, has not been sufficient to check the 
 tendency. 
 
 Arguments favoring the indirect method of 
 community organization : 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 147 
 
 (a) It reduces institutional rivalry. 
 
 (b) It tends to focus the attention of the 
 community upon its service agencies and 
 institutions, in the light of community 
 services. 
 
 (c) It leads to certain standards of work, 
 which raise the level of effectiveness of 
 all agencies and institutions. 
 
 (d) It permits individuals to retain their 
 vital interest in those groups which are 
 most responsive to their individual 
 temperaments. 
 
 (e) It prevents duplication and over- 
 lapping. 
 
 (f) It provides for the highest use of the 
 specialists. 
 
 Arguments against the indirect method of 
 community organization : 
 
 (a) It is not in the true sense "community 
 organization," but merely the organiza- 
 tion of portions of the functioning part 
 of the community. 
 
 (b) It shifts individual responsibility to the 
 community, before the community is 
 trained to accept this responsibility. 
 
 (c) It tends to diminish the highly personal 
 interest, which individuals, especially 
 "givers," have developed in certain 
 agencies or institutions. 
 
148 
 
 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 (d) The combination of existing agencies 
 may defeat the law of the division of 
 labor, by preventing new agencies and 
 organizations from entering the com- 
 munity. 
 
 (e) It tends to neglect the development of 
 volunteer leadership. 
 
 III. The Compound theory of community 
 organization, — in which both the direct 
 and the indirect methods are utilized. 
 According to this theory the ultimate 
 aim of community organization is to 
 secure Democratic control, without min- 
 imizing the effectiveness of specialists 
 and specialized institutions. 
 
 There are two general forms of this type of 
 community organization : 
 
 1. In which the representatives of agencies 
 and institutions are balanced by a like 
 number of representatives, chosen from 
 the citizenship at large. 
 
 2. In which three distinct groups are recog- 
 nized: 
 
 Those who receive services (benefici- 
 aries) . 
 
 Those who render services (agencies, 
 institutions, specialists). 
 Those who pay for services (the peo- 
 ple or citizenship) . 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 149 
 
 Each of these groups is represented in the 
 general community organization, and the 
 executive body which functions represents 
 all of them. 
 
 On account of the complexity of the com- 
 pound theory of community organization it is 
 usually contended that it is impracticable. The 
 average citizen has so little agility of mind that 
 he cannot grasp this schematic method of relat- 
 ing himself to the community process. He 
 wants something more simple. If the com- 
 pound theory is to succeed, it will need to 
 develop from some less complex form of or- 
 ganization. In the light of the theory of 
 Democracy and of our present status of group 
 allegiances, the compound theory of community 
 organization is sound in principle, and hence 
 must be ultimately workable. In the meantime, 
 all types of community organization will be 
 utilized. The more unhampered the experi- 
 ment that can be encouraged during the next 
 decade or two, the better for the community 
 movement. Conversely, the less dogmatism 
 displayed by those interested in any particular 
 type of organization, the more wholesome will 
 be the atmosphere of this new, applied science, 
 which is destined to be so vital to human wel- 
 fare. 
 
150 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 Examples of Community Organization 
 
 The student will secure his most valuable in- 
 sight into the technique of community organiza- 
 tion through the study of what actually exists. 
 Social theory is interesting and should be a part 
 of the equipment of the student of community 
 organization. But the social engineer deals 
 with stubborn material. He needs a large 
 amount of pragmatism in his approach to the 
 problems of human relationships. There has 
 already been created a certain distrust for social 
 engineering; "paper" organizations abound. 
 The wise leader will retain his theory and his 
 idealism, while he makes practical use of the 
 tools at hand. A cross-section of the "com- 
 munity mind" reveals a surprisingly small 
 amount of agility and suppleness in the realm 
 of ideas. On the other hand, the "community 
 mind" reveals a surprisingly large amount of 
 practical information and ability. And, after 
 all, the community organization which suits 
 best a given community, must be indigenous to 
 that community; it cannot be "grafted" on, but 
 must grow out of the community life and 
 experience. 
 
 The use of the local resources in building a 
 community organization may not result in a 
 structure which will be satisfactory to the or- 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 151 
 
 ganizer, but it will have more likelihood of suc- 
 cess than one that he might have imposed upon 
 the community. As examples of community 
 organization are studied, it will be observed 
 that variations in structure may be accounted 
 for by such factors as the size of the com- 
 munity, the character of the population (urban, 
 suburban, or rural), the motives of the agency 
 initiating or stimulating the organization, the 
 immediate objectives of the organization, and 
 the former degree of organization existing in 
 the community. 
 
 Neighborhood, or Community, Improvement 
 Clubs or Associations 
 
 This form of organization was popular, and 
 more or less common, to all sections of the 
 country one and two decades ago. The impetus 
 apparently came from the New England states, 
 and was originally based upon the desire to im- 
 prove the physical surroundings and to enhance 
 the landscape of the smaller towns and villages. 
 In fact, the term "Village Improvement So- 
 ciety" was commonly used in New England. 
 The objectives of this type of organization 
 naturally broadened and included various ele- 
 ments of social and economic improvement. 
 The membership in most cases was made up 
 
152 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 entirely of men and usually of a small section of 
 the population, whose ideals and aspirations for 
 the community were higher than the standard 
 set by the political organization of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 The simplicity of these organizations made it 
 possible to extend them without promotion 
 agencies. There were, however, several at- 
 tempts at state federations of improvement 
 associations. The process of organization 
 was: 
 
 1. Calling of a community mass meeting. 
 
 2. Speakers asked to describe certain definite 
 needs of the community. 
 
 3. Discussion. 
 
 4. Motion to organize improvement asso- 
 ciation. 
 
 5. Election of temporary officers. 
 
 6. Appointment of committees to draft con- 
 stitution, select permanent officers, etc. 
 
 7. Organization meeting. 
 
 8. Work on definite projects of community 
 improvement. 
 
 This type of organization should be classified 
 as direct community organization. It does not, 
 of course, include all citizens of the community, 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 153 
 
 but it does not represent specific groups. This 
 category includes also such organizations as 
 farmers' clubs and community clubs. 
 
 The Grange presents one of the most inter- 
 esting studies in community organization extant. 
 It began as a movement of economic coopera- 
 tion among farmers, but developed into an or- 
 ganization in which social values superseded 
 economic ones. The difficulty of classifying the 
 Grange as a community organization arises 
 from the fact that it is a secret society with 
 ritual. There is one particular in which the 
 Grange acted wisely and far in advance of its 
 time. Its membership includes both men and 
 women on a basis of equality. It is, perhaps, 
 this fact which has caused the gradual change 
 in emphasis from economic to social activities. 
 
 The Farm Bureau presents a new idea in 
 direct organization. It is almost universally 
 organized on the county basis, and hence cannot 
 be regarded as a strictly community organiza- 
 tion. It seems probable, however, that com- 
 munity units, such as exist in the State of Cali- 
 fornia, will eventually grow out of the county 
 organization. The unique feature of the Farm 
 Bureau organization is its project basis of 
 functioning. A brief analysis of the scheme of 
 organization will serve to acquaint the student 
 with its chief features: 
 
154 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 American Farm Bureau Federation 
 (Affiliation of State Farm Bureaus) 
 
 State Farm Bureau Federation 
 (Affiliation of County Farm Bureaus) 
 
 The County Farm Bureau 
 
 General member- 
 ship made up of 
 farmers who pay 
 annual dues of 
 from one to ten 
 dollars; member- 
 ship scattered 
 throughout the 
 county. 
 
 Executive Com- 
 mittee consisting 
 of the officers of 
 the County Farm 
 Bureau, and ad- 
 ditional members 
 elected. 
 
 Functional Com- 
 mittees based on 
 definite projects, 
 such as dairying, 
 alfalfa raising, 
 cooperative mar- 
 keting, etc. 
 
 This represents the usual form of organiza- 
 tion. There are variations which include local 
 community committees; these local committees 
 secure representation on a county basis by 
 means of a county agricultural council, made up 
 of the chairmen of the various community com- 
 mittees. Other variations provide for the affilia- 
 tion of local farmers' clubs with the county 
 Farm Bureau, the separate organization of 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 155 
 
 Home Bureaus for farm women, and the co- 
 ordination of non-affiliated farmers' organiza- 
 tions. The membership in the county Farm 
 Bureau is open to both men and women. 
 
 It should be remembered that the original im- 
 petus for Farm Bureau organization came 
 through the county agricultural agents, who 
 were cooperatively employed by the Federal 
 Government, the State Colleges of Agriculture, 
 and the local county. These agents, or demon- 
 strators, found it necessary to develop some 
 form of organization to make their educational 
 programs effective. From this beginning has 
 come the marvelous expansion which now in- 
 cludes farmers in over forty states, and which 
 promises to be the most gigantic organization 
 of farmers in the history of American agricul- 
 ture. 
 
 There is a tendency to confine the activities 
 of the Farm Bureau to economic problems. 
 The farm women, however, will not be content 
 with such a restricted program, and there are 
 already evidences that the program will become 
 more inclusive. When this emphasis gains suffi- 
 cient ground, the necessity for local, community 
 organization on the direct plan will become 
 evident. 
 
156 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 Institutional Examples of Direct Community 
 Organization 
 
 In the fluid periods of social movements it 
 frequently happens that strange and anomalous 
 forms of organization occur. For a number of 
 years service agencies or institutions, such as the 
 Red Cross, the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
 tion, the Recreation and Playground Associa- 
 tion of America, the Boy Scouts, and numerous 
 others entered communities, organized their 
 own associations, and promoted their own 
 specialized programs. When the tide set in, 
 which seemed to point to a time when communi- 
 ties would be organized for their own interests, 
 and in consequence the service agencies and 
 institutions would then be brought to function 
 in the sphere of their specialties, — some 
 agencies attempted a broader type of commu- 
 nity organization. 
 
 The American Red Cross proposed such a 
 program immediately following the War. It 
 was designed primarily for smaller towns, vil- 
 lages and open country communities. It in- 
 cluded the employment of a county secretary, 
 called the Home Service Secretary or the 
 County Red Cross Organizer. The program 
 was not restricted to the specialized activities of 
 the Red Cross, such as health education, public 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 157 
 
 health nursing, disaster relief, etc., but con- 
 templated recreational and other leisure-time 
 activities, as well as family case work, and gen- 
 eral civic improvement. 
 
 In a strict sense this form of organization 
 cannot be called direct, inasmuch as the Red 
 Cross did not contemplate supplanting other 
 agencies or institutions, but rather proposed to 
 assist them in reaching a higher degree of 
 effectiveness. It is a direct method, however, 
 in so far as it functions through voluntary mem- 
 berships taken from all the citizens, and 
 through committees appointed by and from this 
 membership. In small, unorganized communi- 
 ties this type of organization is highly desirable, 
 provided that the initiating agency performs 
 this service with the fixed and stated purpose of 
 eliminating itself, as a community organization, 
 when it has succeeded in establishing sufficient 
 agencies and institutions to carry out a balanced 
 program. It now appears that this is the policy 
 being pursued by the American Red Cross. 
 
 Community Service, Incorporated, projects a 
 form of community organization which is also 
 direct, but which assumes no elements of a com- 
 munity program which are not related to the 
 problems of leisure time. It is direct in that it 
 establishes itself in the community on the basis 
 of a supporting membership, and functions 
 
158 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 through its own committees. It is also indirect 
 in its efforts to coordinate all of the recreational 
 agencies within a community. It is this type of 
 organization which enters a community for the 
 expressed purpose of functioning in the field of 
 its specialty, which is so common in American 
 communities. 
 
 The Young Men's Christian Association pro- 
 motes a community program which is direct, in 
 that it secures memberships and functions 
 through committees and officers of this member- 
 ship. The community work of the Association 
 grew out of extension programs carried on by 
 city associations. It later developed a theory 
 and a technique of its own, and was one of the 
 first of the larger national agencies to place 
 emphasis upon the local community as a func- 
 tioning unit. The County Work Department 
 of the Young Men's Christian Association 
 (Rural) had already laid the foundation for a 
 non-equipment program of work for men and 
 boys, with the county as the organizing unit, 
 and the local community as the functioning or 
 program unit. Both of these departments have 
 made creative contributions to the community 
 movement. In cities where so-called community 
 work is being carried on, in collaboration with a 
 city association, it is more correct to call the dis- 
 tributed units of function — neighborhood units. 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 159 
 
 Twenty years ago the County Work Depart- 
 ment of the Association laid down a few funda- 
 mental principles of community work; many of 
 these are still the guide-posts of community 
 leaders. Not the least among these principles 
 was this: "The resident forces are the redemp- 
 tive forces " The implication of this principle 
 is that national agencies have for their chief 
 task the discovery, the training and the enlist- 
 ment of resident leadership. 
 
 These examples of direct community organi- 
 zation do not in any sense include all of the 
 various types and forms of community organi- 
 zation extant. Two primary institutions, the 
 church and the school, have been experimenting 
 with various forms of community organization 
 for a number of years. There are numerous 
 examples of churches which have achieved 
 admirable forms of organization. However, 
 any agency or institution whose membership is 
 restricted to persons who subscribe to a certain 
 religious creed, cannot hope to become a com- 
 munity organization agency or institution in the 
 United States. At best, these institutions can 
 hope to include in their active programs only 
 sections of the population. 
 
 It is otherwise with the public school. This 
 
160 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 institution is supported by all the citizens of the 
 community. It is not an institution in the sense 
 that it has members, but it has all of the other 
 characteristics of a permanent institution. It 
 is located on public property which may be put 
 to such uses as the community desires. It func- 
 tions through paid teachers who receive their 
 salaries from public funds. The Community 
 Center movement is probably the most definite 
 form of direct community organization existing 
 in the United States. Under the broadest defi- 
 nition of the term "education," — an organiza- 
 tion of citizens, centering about the public 
 school, may promote the most varied type of 
 program. 
 
 Utilizing the public school equipment and 
 machinery for executing community programs is 
 but a phase of the process of community or- 
 ganization. After the concession to use the 
 school equipment and machinery is secured, 
 there remains the task of securing the best 
 services of the specialists and the specialized 
 agencies, and the more difficult task of con- 
 structing a democratic piece of social ma- 
 chinery, through which the community may ex- 
 press its will. This process is much the same 
 whether the school, the church, the community- 
 house, or other existing institutions are utilized. 
 It is frequently claimed that the community or- 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 161 
 
 ganization, radiating about the public school, is 
 more likely to have all of the elements of 
 Democracy than would be true in the case of 
 other institutions. This is yet to be demon- 
 strated. During the War, and after, many 
 school centers suffered a sharp decline in inter- 
 est and attendance; this was, in part, due to the 
 abridgment of freedom of speech in the open 
 forum meetings. In short, the public school is 
 an institution controlled by governmental offi- 
 cials; these officials owe their allegiance to 
 political parties. In crises, the public school be- 
 comes, not a free community institution, but the 
 organ of one section of the population. Instead 
 of waiting for Democracy to seep down from 
 the governmental agencies to the local communi- 
 ties, it may be wiser to build Democracy upward 
 from the smaller unit; when these smaller units 
 are truly Democratic, the governmental units 
 will be so, ipso facto. 
 
 The settlement house represents a specialized 
 form of neighborhood organization. In its 
 earlier days it measured its usefulness by the 
 number of services which it rendered to the 
 people living within the radius of its influence ; 
 its test of service is now based upon the number 
 of needs which the neighborhood itself may be 
 taught to meet in an organized way. This 
 movement has made an important contribution 
 
162 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 to the technique and philosophy of the com- 
 munity organization. 
 
 STUDENT'S PROBLEMS 
 
 1. Formulate a list of the specialists in any 
 given community, and state their numerical 
 relationship to the total population. 
 
 2. Formulate a list of the institutions in any 
 given community (institutions with special- 
 ized function) . 
 
 3. Select ten of the most prominent citizens 
 (men and women) of some community, 
 and tabulate the number of organizations, 
 agencies, institutions to which they belong, 
 or to which they give support. 
 
 4. Analyze this sentence: "Social engineering, 
 as it evolves toward the stage of art, will be 
 more closely akin to the art of the poet 
 than to that of the draughtsman or 
 painter," — and state reasons for or against 
 it. 
 
 5. Select some form of community organiza- 
 tion which conforms more or less closely to 
 the direct type, and describe fully its his- 
 tory, its successes and failures, its scheme 
 of organization, and the principles upon 
 which it functions. 
 
 6. Complete the arguments for and against 
 the direct method of community organiza- 
 tion. 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 163 
 
 7. Select a community with at least five service 
 agencies, and the usual other institutions, 
 and formulate a plan of indirect organiza- 
 tion which you think will suit the condi- 
 tions. 
 
 8. By consultation with leaders learn and 
 tabulate all of the arguments available for, 
 and against, the pooling of budgets (com- 
 munity budgeting) of social agencies. 
 
 9. Complete the arguments for, and against, 
 the indirect method of community organi- 
 zation. 
 
 10. Construct a list of organizations and insti- 
 tutions which function on the basis of 
 direct } or semi-direct, organization; (a) in 
 a given state, (b) in a given county, (c) in 
 a given community. 
 
 11. Select some current form of community 
 organization (such as the Grange, Farm 
 Bureau, etc.), and make an analysis of the 
 program and the steps involved in organi- 
 zation. 
 
 12. Prepare a bibliography on the Community 
 Center movement in the United States. 
 From selected readings, prepare a brief 
 history of the movement. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THEORIES AND PRINCIPLES OF COM- 
 MUNITY ORGANIZATION (Continued) 
 
 The indirect theory of community organiza- 
 tion is based upon so-called group psychology. 
 It assumes that the individual is vitally related 
 to one or more of the vital-interest groups, 
 through which he secures his self-expression. 
 It assumes, further, that in a complex society 
 the actual functioning process goes on through 
 these groups and not through the citizenship as 
 a whole. Politically considered, it stresses the 
 forces in government rather than government 
 itself. In the extra-governmental affairs of 
 community life, this psychological theory makes 
 the assumption that the organizations, agencies 
 and institutions of a community constitute the 
 real dynamic forces, and that community organi- 
 zation will be accomplished when these groups 
 are inter-related and co-related. 
 
 The federation idea in community or organi- 
 zation is not new. The labor unions have fol- 
 lowed this policy for a number of years. A 
 central labor union is a federation of all of the 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 165 
 
 labor unions in a particular city. They are 
 banded together in the city federation for com- 
 munity purposes only. Each local union has a 
 relationship to its national union, and this rela- 
 tionship is direct. 
 
 The Protestant Churches have also had con- 
 siderable experience in federating on the com- 
 munity basis. Unfortunately, these federations 
 have been largely nominal and not functional. 
 There are, of course, examples of organic 
 federation among churches in which a number 
 of denominations have agreed to pool church 
 machinery, while at the same time retaining 
 their denominational adherences. 
 
 City federations of women's clubs are the 
 rule in most cities, and are exceedingly effective 
 in bringing the organized force of womanhood 
 to bear upon community problems. 
 
 The above types of federation among 
 agencies or institutions with similar programs 
 do not constitute community organization ; they 
 do make an approach to the organized com- 
 munity and constitute a basis for considering 
 the indirect method which is now in the ascend- 
 ancy. 
 
 Councils of Social Agencies 
 
 Community budgeting, or the pooling of the 
 financial campaigns of all or of a number of the 
 
166 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 social agencies within a community leads to 
 further organization; inter-related financial re- 
 lationships create a sense of co-related respon- 
 sibilities. The organization of the service 
 agencies in such manner as to produce a bal- 
 anced program of social progress, to secure 
 community-wide support, and to function in 
 serving the entire community, is the first step 
 toward assuring the best services of the special- 
 ists. Such organization should include special- 
 ists in health, education, family case work, child 
 welfare, delinquency, dependency, crime and 
 the various other phases of social work. 
 
 Councils of this type are developing rapidly 
 in many sections of the country, and the time 
 will soon be past when social agencies will be 
 permitted to promote a purely unrelated pro- 
 gram. A few of the principles thus far devel- 
 oped are : 
 
 First, the council has advisory powers only; 
 it does not interfere with the administra- 
 tive function of individual agencies. 
 
 Second, the council sets certain standards of 
 professional service, which agencies must 
 comply with when affiliation is effected. 
 
 Third, the council serves not merely to pre- 
 vent overlapping and duplication of work, 
 but is instrumental in extending the useful- 
 ness of individual agencies by marking out 
 clearly the various fields. 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 167 
 
 Fourth, the council provides regular meetings 
 of representatives of all affiliated agencies; 
 at these meetings the community is looked 
 upon as a "case study," and the part which 
 each agency plays is clearly portrayed. 
 
 Fifth, the council serves to relate the agencies 
 to larger groups of supporters. 
 
 Sixth, the council tends to diminish the par- 
 ticularistic viewpoint in social work, and 
 promotes a unified outlook upon social 
 progress in which all elements receive just 
 attention. 
 
 There are numerous objections to the council 
 plan of organizing social agencies. Among 
 these objections there is but one that appears to 
 be fundamental in character. Private agencies 
 are built up through the enthusiastic support of 
 a small group of citizens. These supporters 
 become attached in a personal way to the 
 agency. They receive considerable satisfaction 
 from its successes, and their personal loyalties 
 often lead them to make sacrifices which are 
 admirable. It is feared by many that this 
 intensive, personal loyalty of individuals to 
 particular agencies and institutions will be mini- 
 mized, or lost, through the organization of 
 community councils of all agencies. 
 
 This is a well-grounded fear. Unless con- 
 scious plans are made to maintain a vitality of 
 interest in particular agencies and institutions, 
 
168 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 this result may be expected. The solution of 
 this problem lies in the direction of a new 
 technique, for the use of volunteer leaders in 
 social movements. The positive values of co- 
 ordinating social agencies are so great that this 
 one objection must be overcome by a new 
 strategy. Perhaps the clue to this problem is 
 already manifest in the compound theory of 
 community organization. 
 
 Community Councils 
 Community councils constitute a semi-direct 
 method of interesting the citizenship of a 
 neighborhood in its problems, but the functional 
 portion of the organization must be classified 
 as indirect. The city of New York proceeded 
 with this form of community organization imme- 
 diately following the War. Three factors in 
 the organization need emphasis: 
 
 First, the citizens of a given neighborhood 
 were organized in the form of a voluntary 
 association, called a community council 
 and sometimes named after the district or 
 neighborhood. 
 
 Second, the council discussed its neighbor- 
 hood problems, and appointed special com- 
 mittees to seek solutions. 
 
 Third, the council secured the assistance of 
 all existing agencies and institutions in 
 solving problems or meeting needs. 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 169 
 
 Fourth, the city-wide, or overhead, organi- 
 zation maintained a staff of specialists 
 (health, recreation, etc.), who supple- 
 mented the existing agencies in meeting 
 needs. 
 
 It will be seen that this plan involves features 
 of both the direct and the indirect methods of 
 organization, although it makes no provisions 
 for the coordination of the specialists and the 
 specialized institutions and agencies. 
 
 The Social Unit Theory of Community 
 Organization 
 
 The compound (complex or combined) type 
 of community organization was demonstrated 
 in an experiment conducted in the city of Cin- 
 cinnati, Ohio. An industrial section of the city 
 w T as selected for the experiment. This neigh- 
 borhood was designated the "social unit," as it 
 was the small, cohesive cluster of the population 
 in which there was a more or less face-to-face 
 association. The area within the unit included 
 a population of approximately 15,000 people. 
 The organization proceeded upon the following 
 basis : 
 
 A. Block Councils consisting of the residents 
 within a block; all residents of both sexes 
 over eighteen years of age were given the 
 voting privilege. 
 
170 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 B. The Citizens' Council composed of 
 thirty-one members; one member chosen 
 from each of the blocks within the unit. 
 (One hundred families or five hundred 
 people on the average in each block.) 
 
 C. The Occupational Council composed of 
 the representatives of the skilled (special- 
 ist) groups serving in the district, such as 
 physicians, nurses, recreation workers, 
 teachers, social workers, ministers, and 
 trade unionists. 
 
 D. The General Council composed of the 
 members of the Citizens' Council and the 
 Occupational Council. 
 
 E. The Council of Executives consisting of 
 three executives (officers), representing 
 respectively the Citizens' Council, the 
 Occupational Council, and the General 
 Council. 
 
 This plan of organization appears complex 
 and involved. It becomes much more simple 
 when regarded in the functional instead of the 
 structural sense. In many communities, phases 
 of this organization already exist as unrelated 
 parts. Stated in the light of the theory of 
 Democracy and Specialism, as discussed in this 
 work, the Social Unit theory of community 
 organization presents itself as follows: 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 171 
 
 The Democratic Process Specialists 
 
 Expressed in the or- To secure group stimu- 
 ganization of Block Coun- lus through organizations 
 cils. of the various specialists, 
 
 Democratic Process such as medical associa- 
 translated in terms of will tions, teachers' associa- 
 or action in the Citizens' tions, etc. 
 Council. Represented in the com- 
 
 Note. Any other form munity program through 
 of democratic neighbor- their representatives on 
 hood organization could the Occupational Council, 
 be utilized for this pur- 
 pose. 
 
 The Community Pro- 
 gram in Action 
 
 The meeting of the 
 Democratic Process and 
 the ideas of the Specialists 
 in the General Council. 
 
 The unified community 
 program placed into ac- 
 tion through the Council 
 of Executives, whose au- 
 thority rests within the 
 respective groups which 
 they represent. 
 
 Variations of the Social Unit plan of com- 
 munity organization have been suggested, and 
 are in some measure in operation. The theory 
 is not invalidated because of certain features 
 
172 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 which appear to be rigid in its structure. There 
 are forms of community organization in which 
 each specialist group, or committee, is supple- 
 mented by a like number of citizens chosen at 
 large. This is but another means of attempting 
 to relate the Democratic Process to increasing 
 specialization. Wherever this is achieved, or 
 approached, it may be said that real community 
 organization in the modern sense is in opera- 
 tion. Many experiments are needed to deter- 
 mine the type of machinery best suited to a 
 particular community. If the underlying 
 philosophy is understood, and if the true ob- 
 jectives of community organization are clearly 
 stated, the machinery will come into existence 
 as a natural process. 
 
 Principles of Community Organization 
 
 With the above theories and examples of 
 community organization in mind, the student 
 may proceed to the task of stating definite prin- 
 ciples to guide his thinking and his planning. 
 The social sciences are still too fluid to permit 
 of rigid definitions and dogmatic statements of 
 law. Definitions are no sooner stated than a 
 new process is set up which destroys their scien- 
 tific value. But definitions and principles must 
 be stated along the way, else thought can never 
 be clarified. Such definitions and principles 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 173 
 
 should be regarded, not as rigid sign-posts 
 along an unyielding mountain path, but rather 
 as lightships directing ships across an ocean 
 lane, whose direction is known but whose exact 
 paths may vary. 
 
 Principle Number One 
 
 Community Organization is that phase 
 of social organization which constitutes a 
 conscious effort on the part of a community 
 to control its affairs democratically, and to 
 secure the highest services from its special- 
 ists, organizations, agencies and institu- 
 tions by means of recognized inter-rela- 
 tions. 
 
 This principle is stated in the form of a defi- 
 nition; the definition appears to be the logical 
 result and induction from what has gone before, 
 in this attempt to study the community. It is 
 a definition which involves the two principal 
 problems of community organization, namely, 
 the Democratic Process and Specialism. It 
 will not satisfy those persons who are attempt- 
 ing to define community organization in terms 
 of some particular scheme or plan. Any con- 
 scious effort on the part of a community to solve 
 one or both of its primary problems is here 
 considered as organically related to community 
 organization. The methods by which various 
 
174 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 communities approach this task are the me- 
 chanical aspects of community organization. 
 
 Principle Number Two 
 
 Vital-interest Groups provide the means 
 of self-expression which have regard for 
 like-mindedness and special capabilities of 
 individuals. Such groups have come to be 
 the vital, functioning parts of modern com- 
 munities. The individual's relationship to 
 such a group, or groups, need not be mini- 
 mized in order to relate him organically 
 and democratically to the larger com- 
 munity. He must be brought into the com- 
 munity process through the expression of 
 his most vital interests. 
 
 This principle has already been discussed at 
 length. It is the point of departure for many 
 groups of proponents of community organiza- 
 tion. The adherents of "pure" Democracy 
 will have none of the "group" theory; to them 
 this appears to be an abandonment of funda- 
 mental democratic theory in favor of "soviet- 
 ism." The social realists, however, do not 
 blink at words; they face the plain fact that 
 modern communities function after the fashion 
 of vital-interest groups. Rotary Clubs are con- 
 sciously organized to secure representation of 
 the various occupational and professional 
 groups of the community. No one thinks of 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 175 
 
 calling them "soviets," and yet they resemble 
 soviet or vocational representation more closely 
 than any other current form of organization. 
 Chambers of Commerce consciously organize to 
 secure representation of the commercial, finan- 
 cial and manufacturing groups of a community. 
 In complete community organization, this pro- 
 cess must be extended; it must be extended to 
 that point where all of the vital-interest groups 
 are inter-related, and through this inter-rela- 
 tion there must come a definite relation between 
 the groups and the total community population. 
 Nothing is to be gained by closing one's eyes to 
 the facts of evolution in social organization and 
 process. Much is to be lost if we attempt to 
 arrive at principles by hurling verbal "brick- 
 bats" at those who differ. If the group organi- 
 zation of modern communities is a social fact, 
 it must be faced frankly. To many it is a hope- 
 ful rather than a distressing fact. 
 
 Principle Number Three 
 
 Conflict is inevitable in social process. 
 Community organization does not propose 
 to eliminate conflict but rather to rational- 
 ize it; the organized community creates 
 means for bringing conflict into the "public 
 square" where the solvent of discussion 
 may be applied. Rightly understood, con- 
 flict becomes a positive force in arriving at 
 
176 
 
 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 right decisions. This implies that the or- 
 ganized community must have free and un- 
 controlled avenues of expression of the 
 common thought. 
 
 In unorganized communities conflicts smoul- 
 der in the darkness. Movements start, halt, 
 are "put over" by a small, influential — but sus- 
 picioned — group, or die mysterious deaths. 
 Opposition is felt but not seen. The public 
 forum is non-existent or is "closed," instead of 
 "open." When clear-eyed opposition presents 
 itself, it is inexorably and dexterously sub- 
 merged. The subterranean forces appear to be 
 more powerful than the seen forces. All of this 
 is contrary to good human relationships, and 
 can only be avoided if the principle of the utility 
 of conflict, with its accompanying principle of 
 freedom of discussion, are openly recognized in 
 community organization. 
 
 Principle Number Four 
 
 The Stimulating Force which causes a 
 community to start toward organization 
 may come from within or without the com- 
 munity. The particular "color" which the 
 force takes on after it has started on its 
 way, and the direction in which the force 
 is to act, must come from within the com- 
 munity. 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 177 
 
 Studies of numerous community projects re- 
 veal the fact that success is not dependent upon 
 the initiating force or agency. Outside agencies 
 may be much more useful in supplying this 
 stimulus than they will be afterwards in giving 
 it direction. This is but a restatement of the 
 main thesis of this book, namely, that Special- 
 ism has its place in social process, but that its 
 guide must be Democracy. The outside agency 
 creates a stimulus toward community organiza- 
 tion and supplies certain elements of the tech- 
 nique for the early steps. It must then sub- 
 ordinate itself, until the Democratic Process 
 steps in to make indigenous evaluations and 
 adaptations. Too frequently the initiating 
 agency fails to understand its proper function 
 in this regard, and attempts to impose its for- 
 mula step by step. This leads to serious re- 
 action which imperils the community movement. 
 
 Principle Number Five 
 
 Projects inaugurated after community 
 organization has begun must be carefully 
 selected. Communities, like individuals, 
 have whims and fancies; they also have 
 periods of receptive enthusiasms with en- 
 suing periods of depression. The first 
 projects should be carefully initiated in the 
 light of the study of community needs. It 
 is safe to say, in a general manner, that 
 
178 
 
 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 the best projects to use in the initial stages 
 of community organization are those which 
 represent the most vital need to the largest 
 number of people. 
 
 This principle has been stated as the "law of 
 preferential motives." "The community activi- 
 ties undertaken first should be those which will 
 make the strongest appeal to the largest num- 
 ber, and which will involve the least antagonism 
 and friction." 1 In discussing the law of pref- 
 erential motives, one author states: "The first 
 is the gregarious tendency; the second, the play 
 instinct; the third, the work impulse; the fourth, 
 the economic need; and the fifth, the cultural 
 interest." 2 The latter category of preferential 
 motives is likely to lead the student astray. 
 Communities of varying longevity, varying com- 
 position, and of varying cultural backgrounds, 
 will not follow this order of motives. There 
 is value in the theory, however, and the student 
 should interpret it in terms of particular cases. 
 It is not intended as a mechanical law but is 
 rather a hint at underlying principles. Inter- 
 pretations concerning motives are affected by 
 both the conscious (expressed) and by the sub- 
 conscious (wished) desires. An inductive study 
 of human organization would reveal the fact 
 
 1 D wight Sanderson, "Proceedings Third National Country Life 
 Conference." 
 
 2 N. L. Sims, "The Rural Community." 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 179 
 
 that the primary motives were economic in 
 essence; a deeper insight into the subconscious 
 longings of people might reveal the contrary 
 fact, namely, that fellowship has been the real 
 motive. 
 
 Principle Number Six 
 
 Leadership in community organization 
 must keep its program at least "one step" 
 in advance of the Democratic Process. No 
 form of social organization needs leader- 
 ship so vitally as Democracy, but it must be . 
 a differentiated leadership. The citizen 
 who is successful in commercial or indus- 
 trial discipline may not be amenable to 
 Democratic discipline. Democracy needs, 
 most of all, creative leadership; it must be 
 constantly making proposals which lead 
 the community along the road of idealism. 
 The delicate task is to keep these ideals 
 the "one step" ahead, while delegating the 
 practical responsibilities to those whose 
 "feet are on the earth." 
 
 An extended study of community leaders 
 points to a more or less definite type of char- 
 acter. They are nearly all dreamers. They 
 are, first of all, people who believe in the 
 capacities of other people. They are persons 
 gifted with that "divine discontent" which is 
 unsatisfied with present achievements. Tragi- 
 cally enough, too many leaders with this equip- 
 
180 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 ment of idealism lack the capacity of trans- 
 planting their ideals to the consciousness of 
 others. It is not to be expected that the leaders 
 shall have all traits of leadership; it is only 
 hoped that they may know how to use the par- 
 ticular ones which they do have. This involves 
 a technique of relationship between Leadership 
 and Democracy, which is to be discussed later. 
 At this point, it is desired to emphasize the idea 
 of having the leadership of the community crea- 
 tive in character; this can only be accomplished 
 if the leaders make proposals which are in ad- 
 vance of their time. 
 
 Principle Number Seven 
 
 Committees operating in and through 
 community organizations need to be care- 
 fully selected; moreover, they need a defi- 
 nite technique of procedure. Small com- 
 mittees succeed better than large ones. 
 Committees with special and definite tasks 
 are better than standing committees with 
 general responsibilities. Untried leader- 
 ship receives its initial stimulus to greater 
 capacity through committee work. 
 
 This is a very general statement regarding 
 committees, and little more can be attempted 
 within the space of this work. The rise and 
 increase in vitality of committees constitutes 
 one of the important developments in repre- 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 181 
 
 sentative government, and yet it appears to 
 have received very little scientific study. Our 
 state and federal legislative bodies function 
 almost entirely on the basis of committees; the 
 general gatherings are largely perfunctory. 
 This is another manifestation of the division of 
 labor in social organization. 
 
 Principle Number Eight 
 
 Publicity given to communities in the 
 process of organization is apt to render 
 the experiment ineffective. Well-meaning 
 friends of a community movement are 
 anxious to tell the "story" of the com- 
 munity that has started its organization. 
 This "story" involves personalities. Other 
 persons in the community know that all of 
 the things told in the "story" have not 
 happened, and if they are not entirely sym- 
 pathetic they can sow the seeds of sus- 
 picion which will soon undermine the 
 entire movement. 
 
 Community leaders, especially those repre- 
 senting certain private agencies, are extremely 
 susceptible to the publicity virus. They seldom 
 have the patience to wait until the community 
 organization experiment has reached that stage 
 of sympathetic regard where the citizens will 
 support it vigorously before they begin allow- 
 ing the newspapers to publish accounts. These 
 
182 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 accounts or "stories" are embellished to the 
 point where the residents of the community 
 scarcely recognize themselves as the partici- 
 pators. The unsympathetic are provided with 
 the most formidable of weapons — suspicion. 
 They point to the discrepancies between what 
 had happened and what the newspaper "story" 
 says has happened. Those who have ulterior 
 motives for wanting the community organized, 
 those who are naturally suspicious, and those 
 who are conscientiously opposed to Democracy, 
 may now easily frustrate the movement. 
 Nothing is so deadly to a community organiza- 
 tion experiment as to have someone with 
 authority say, "It sounds very well and looks 
 very well on paper, but it doesn't exist." 
 Leaders are not always to be blamed for this 
 too frequent obstacle. Newspaper reporters 
 often beguile them into publicity schemes, while 
 their intentions are unquestionable. A reason- 
 able amount of publicity is, of course, essential 
 even in the initial stages of community organi- 
 zation, but the promoters must not be ambitious 
 in displaying results that are merely hoped for; 
 they must adhere to facts. After the com- 
 munity has been organized for a period of from 
 one to three years, wider publicity is not so 
 dangerous. Care must be exercised in all 
 stages, however, to emphasize the community 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 183 
 
 and the community groups, rather than indi- 
 viduals. Democratic leadership is not envious ; 
 it exalteth not itself. 
 
 Principle Number Nine 
 
 Budgets for community organization 
 should begin on a moderate plane and in- 
 crease only in proportion to new or ex- 
 tended functions. One of the primary 
 tests of Democracy is its ability to get on 
 with the tools at hand. Most communities 
 have sufficient social machinery; it needs 
 gearing up — coordination, and the injec- 
 tion of the oil of cooperation. If a large 
 budget is required at the outset, it will be 
 difficult to increase this budget with in- 
 creasing functions. 
 
 Most plans of community organization come 
 to grief on the financial rock. Under the im- 
 petus of initial enthusiasm it is a great tempta- 
 tion to raise a large budget. It is easy to forget 
 that budgets are usually more easily raised upon 
 anticipation than upon fragmentary achieve- 
 ment. Moreover, a large budget at the begin- 
 ning means the promotion of a program which 
 soon gets beyond the comprehension of the 
 average citizen; he becomes bewildered with ac- 
 tivities. A small budget means concentration 
 upon the existing agencies, organizations, and 
 institutions; it fosters development of person- 
 
184 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 ality and leadership. On the other hand, a 
 large budget means the initiation of activities. 
 When all of the local resources have been 
 utilized and made effective, new functions will 
 become necessary. At this point an increased 
 budget may be called for; in fact, it will be 
 asked for since the need is apparent. 
 
 Principle Number Ten 
 
 A Critique of community organization 
 procedure should be provided for by the 
 leaders of the movement. Wholesome 
 self-criticism will save many plans from 
 early destruction. A community organiza- 
 tion should have a committee on research 
 and criticism. The function of this com- 
 mittee should be to evaluate each step in 
 the organization process. 
 
 Introspection breeds pessimism. Wholesome 
 self-criticism promotes sound optimism. Com- 
 munity organization enthusiasts are likely to be 
 somewhat temperamental, and temperamental 
 persons seldom enjoy honest criticism. In our 
 political system the party that is "in" — is sub- 
 jected to a sharp, if somewhat crude, criticism. 
 This is, in fact, the chief function of the de- 
 feated party — to make its principles felt 
 through criticism of the successful party. A 
 similar check is needed in social movements. 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 185 
 
 It is to be hoped that the social engineers of the 
 community movement will develop a new tech- 
 nique of criticism; one that will proceed from 
 within rather than from without. A body of 
 the keenest minds of the community should be 
 brought together periodically to evaluate every- 
 thing that is done — in the name of community 
 organization. At times, this committee should 
 be supplemented by the criticisms of specialists 
 from the outside. The results from this com- 
 mittee should, of course, be constructive. 
 Nothing is to be gained by mere criticism. 
 Tragic failures may be avoided by constructive 
 critical examinations. The committee should, 
 in reality, be one of research; constantly evalu- 
 ating for the purpose of discovering newer and 
 better ways of doing things, and constantly 
 applying the principles of social science to the 
 problems of the local community's organization. 
 
 The above principles are to be regarded as 
 temporary inductions from experience and ob- 
 servation, covering only a limited number of 
 communities. Community organization is one 
 of the newest branches of applied social science. 
 The social sciences do not attempt the formula- 
 tion of static principles; human affairs are too 
 fluid and non-mechanical to permit such a pro- 
 cess. These principles, and the many others 
 which need to be stated, should be supple- 
 
186 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 merited by the student's experience. It is hoped 
 that those engaged in the practical affairs of 
 community organization will scrutinize them 
 with care, and with no thought of sparing the 
 author. He will be most eager to change the 
 principles, when it is proved that change will 
 promote scientific community organization. 
 
 STUDENT'S PROBLEMS 
 
 1. Describe the processes involved in some 
 form of federation of agencies or organi- 
 zations with similar programs. 
 
 2. Devise a plan of organizing a council of 
 social agencies for: (a) a community of 
 5,000 population, (b) a community of 
 25,000 population, (c) a community of 
 250,000 population, (d) a rural county. 
 
 3. Devise a plan for the organization of the 
 governmental and the extra-governmental 
 agencies functioning within a certain state; 
 that is, devise a plan for a state council of 
 social agencies. 
 
 4. Write a 500 word criticism of the Com- 
 munity Council plan of community organi- 
 zation. 
 
 5. Write a 1,000 word criticism of the Social 
 Unit plan of community organization. 
 
 6. Write a definition of community organiza- 
 tion. 
 
COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION 187 
 
 7. Write an essay on the theory of social con- 
 flict, using some historical basis of special 
 interest to yourself as a student. 
 
 8. Study two sets of community projects: one 
 in which the project received its stimulus 
 from an outside agency; and one in which 
 the project originated within the com- 
 munity. 
 
 9. Make a brief study of some community, 
 and state what projects you would use in 
 beginning a plan of community organiza- 
 tion. Give reasons. 
 
 10. Why are conservatives usually in power, 
 while progressives are usually in the ascend- 
 ancy in leadership ? 
 
 11. Make several studies of the functioning of 
 committees. Tabulate the processes and 
 the results. 
 
 12. Outline a publicity program for a com- 
 munity organization campaign in a com- 
 munity of 50,000 population. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 CHRISTIANITY AND COMMUNITY 
 LEADERSHIP 
 
 From whence shall come the force which will 
 make Democracy effective in local communities? 
 We now know how futile it is to speak of 
 "making Democracy safe for the world," while 
 it is still ineffective on the basis of our smallest 
 social units — of families, neighborhoods and 
 communities. Democracy will be safe only when 
 its spirit is breathed into the homely tasks of 
 the so-called common man. The program of 
 this generation is not to make Democracy safe 
 but to make it real. And what can make it 
 real? What force can give to Democracy the 
 same sort of reality which was revealed by 
 Militarism in these recent days? 
 
 This question cannot be answered in terms 
 of machinery. The Community Movement 
 promises to be the vehicle by which Democracy 
 is to be interpreted to the people of the earth. 
 
 But if the Community Movement consists of 
 mere social machinery, we shall find ourselves 
 lacking in motive power adequate to cause the 
 
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP 189 
 
 machinery to run. Two things are needed: A 
 Spiritual Motive for Democracy , and Leader- 
 ship. Both of these factors have entered into 
 the foregoing discussions. Leadership has re- 
 ceived direct attention, and religion, it is to be 
 hoped, has been discoverable in numerous rela- 
 tionships. 
 
 The Elements of Democratic Leadership 
 
 Leadership in a Democracy cannot be in- 
 herited; neither can it be purchased. It comes 
 only to those whose motives, purposes and 
 faiths are in harmony with profound demo- 
 cratic principles. The more obvious traits of 
 leadership, such as initiative, resourcefulness, 
 loyalty, etc., have received adequate attention 
 elsewhere ; this discussion will be confined to the 
 more or less neglected elements of leadership 
 which are definitely related to Democracy and 
 the community process. 
 
 ( i ) The Community Leader is frequently 
 entreated to become a "four-square man." 
 That is, he is reminded that his leadership de- 
 pends upon a symmetrical development of his 
 mental, physical, social and spiritual nature. In 
 a general sense this is good advice; in a strict 
 sense it is an impossibility. Such equality of 
 endowments does not exist in the extremely 
 variable development of man. In a scientific 
 
190 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 sense, the leader should make the highest pos- 
 sible use of his special capacities. So far as the 
 records indicate, Jesus was well developed 
 physically; he appeared to have a real passion 
 for "folks" — a sociable nature; he was intel- 
 lectually alert. But the most ardent admirer 
 of this Personality must grant that Jesus made 
 the highest use of his specialty — his spiritual 
 nature. His universal appeal comes not from 
 his physique, his sociability, or his mentality, 
 but from his spirituality. It is true that he 
 interpreted the whole of life in terms of 
 spiritual values, and to that extent he empha- 
 sized all aspects of life. He was, nevertheless, 
 a spiritual specialist. 
 
 There is danger in dividing life into threes, 
 fours and fives. Life is not so simple; it is mul- 
 tiple. And in a closely knit state of organiza- 
 tion, man must select from his multiple capaci- 
 ties certain ones which he may so develop as 
 to make his best contribution to society. The 
 progressive community leader in modern so- 
 ciety is one who neglects none of the vital 
 aspects of living, but selects for emphasis the 
 capacity with which he is especially equipped. 
 
 (2) The Community Leader's greatest 
 temptation is to "do" things for the community, 
 rather than create the means whereby the com- 
 munity may do things for itself. There are two 
 
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP 191 
 
 objections to this type of leadership: in the 
 first place, it devitalizes the leader, and in the 
 second place, it undermines the community. 
 Each time the leader does something for the 
 community that the community might have done 
 for itself, he prevents the community from 
 developing its own resources. This process in 
 time becomes so devitalizing that whole com- 
 munities appear to be without leadership. 
 The principle is applicable even in cases where 
 the leader's ability is superior to that of the 
 community. (That is, of course, seldom the 
 case but it is frequently imagined.) In a 
 Democracy, the group must be permitted the 
 right to make its own mistakes. Eventually, 
 this process leads to the proper utilization of 
 specialized leadership. 
 
 (3) The Community Leader who is con- 
 stantly "doing things" instead of getting them 
 done, can scarcely escape the dangers of per- 
 sonal advertisement. He comes to feel a cer- 
 tain pride in the multiplicity of activities which 
 center about him. Personal advertising results 
 in diminishing returns from leadership. There 
 is a certain <( saturation point y> in personal ad- 
 vertising; when this point is reached each suc- 
 ceeding mention of the leader's name tends to 
 debase rather than elevate his position as a 
 leader. A study of several hundred leaders 
 
192 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 such as secretaries of chambers of commerce, 
 school superintendents, ministers, Y. M. C. A. 
 secretaries, recreation leaders, etc., reveals the 
 fact that their careers may be accurately charted 
 according to the rise and fall of personal adver- 
 tising. Many leaders escape the decline of 
 leadership, due to personal advertising, by 
 moving to a new field of service. Ministers 
 and teachers appear to be especially susceptible 
 to this sort of "call." Moving to a new and 
 larger field may be profitable to the leader, but 
 it is harmful to the community. The permanent 
 leaders who live their lives in a single commu- 
 nity, without diminishing influence, are those 
 "who seek not their own glory." Studies of their 
 lives indicate that they are cognizant of the 
 more or less superficial values in newspaper 
 publicity and personal advertising. In a Democ- 
 racy, there is no scientific method whereby the 
 leader may be entirely separated from his 
 group; if he himself makes such a separation, 
 he does so at the risk of sacrificing his leader- 
 ship. Social reformers have a tendency to be- 
 come "separatists" in this sense, and seldom 
 fulfil the early promises of their lives. 
 
 (4) The Community Leader must generate 
 ideas. When he becomes absorbed in the 
 mechanism of activities he loses the capacity to 
 create; his ideas grow stale. The only known 
 
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP 193 
 
 method of remaining in the creative class is to 
 be free. The community leader who "belongs" 
 to a clique in the community, or who is the 
 mouthpiece for persons or forces unseen, can 
 never be a creative leader. Creative ideas come 
 out of the future and not out of the past. The 
 community leader in a Democracy must share 
 the future. His golden age must be translated 
 in terms of the community in which he labors. 
 Leaders come from all psychological types; one 
 must choose his type. Since this is a psycho- 
 logical principle, it may be fruitful to make a 
 brief analysis of the prevalent types of mind as 
 related to creative ideas: 
 
 The reactionary thinks in terms of the past; 
 he opposes change because it is change. 
 He does not believe in progress. 
 
 The conservative thinks in terms of the 
 present; he opposes change because it 
 affects his stake in the present order. The 
 true conservative is usually well grounded 
 in the past. He believes in progress pro- 
 vided it comes slowly enough to be imper- 
 ceptible to him. 
 
 The liberal thinks in terms of the future; he 
 welcomes change as the only mode of 
 growth and the principle of life. He be- 
 lieves in tentative progress. 
 
 The radical thinks in terms of a future 
 fashioned according to his will; he usually 
 
194 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 has a single solution for all present ills. 
 He believes in absolute progress. 
 
 The community leader who hopes to make a 
 real contribution to Democracy may be a mem- 
 ber of any of the last three types. If he wishes 
 to make a creative contribution he is limited to 
 the last two types. And, if he wishes to be con- 
 structively active during his own lifetime, he 
 must confine himself to the liberal type of mind. 
 The liberal leader is not dogmatic. He is not 
 particularistic. He sees life as a whole, but in 
 emphasizing his own special interests does not 
 preclude the same right to others in their chosen 
 fields. He never shrinks from change. He is 
 not a fatalist, but believes that man's destiny 
 may be controlled by man's conscious planning. 
 Because he believes that the future is in man's 
 hands, he devotes himself to a profound faith 
 in mankind. This faith in mankind leads 
 directly to spiritual motivation. Man's life is 
 fragmentary, incomplete; his ultimate well- 
 being or perfection is a thing to be hoped for 
 in faith. The liberal's faith in man, as an 
 admittedly inescapable portion of the universe, 
 furnishes his faith in the essential purpose 
 underlying the universe, which is God. 
 
 (5) The Community Leader believes that 
 the fundamental and essential insights of life 
 are within the reach of the so-called common 
 
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP 195 
 
 man. He is not content with his ideas and 
 ideals until they are comprehended and inter- 
 preted by the common man. He knows that all 
 great social achievements of the race have been 
 the result of the common man's awakened 
 spirit. His chief task at the present stage of 
 experimental Democracy is to interpret to, and 
 with, the common man the function of the 
 specialist. In short, the true community leader 
 in a Democracy sows his seed in the minds of 
 common men in the sure hope that if it is good 
 seed it will bear its fruit in its time. When the 
 group fails to sustain his ideas or ideals he does 
 not condemn the group ; he begins once more to 
 clarify and to illumine. He never loses faith in 
 his ideals nor in his group. His task is to bring 
 his group to understand his ideals. All of this 
 implies that the community leader possesses an 
 "open mind, an understanding heart, and a free 
 soul." 
 
 (6) The Community Leader has a philoso- 
 phy of life. He does not seek to impose his 
 philosophy upon others. He grants all others 
 the same rights and privileges which he de- 
 mands for himself. His technique never gets 
 ahead of his philosophy. Nothing is done until 
 he asks himself the question, "Why?" There 
 is about the truly Democratic leader a certain 
 calm and a certain steadiness which give proof 
 
196 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 of sure foundations. His thinking is never 
 "muddled." One often finds him in the realm 
 of fancy, but not for long. His fancy leads 
 quickly to argument and discussion. Then fol- 
 lows investigation, and out of his fanciful ideal- 
 ism emerges a scientific principle. He is not 
 torn hither and yon by every wind that blows, 
 and although his gaze is firmly fixed on the 
 future, he approaches steadily, sequentially and 
 calmly. His enthusiasms are genuine ; they need 
 not be fed by the ephemeral flames of flattery. 
 He is willing to pay the price for each convic- 
 tion and for each change in philosophy. And, 
 because one knows that he has paid the price, 
 his philosophy rings true. 
 
 Christianity: the Social Leadership Religion 
 There is a sense in which each individual 
 must meet his God face to face, and alone. 
 Religion considered with this signification be- 
 longs to theology and philosophy. There is 
 another sense in which a man's religion has no 
 reality outside of his behavior. This import of 
 religion belongs to the sciences of sociology and 
 ethics. It is difficult to speak of religion in this 
 latter connection; our terminology is so clut- 
 tered with phrases of cant and of medieval sen- 
 timentalism that one is sure to be misunderstood 
 when attempting a scientific interpretation. If 
 
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP 197 
 
 the religion which we pretend to believe in 
 (Christianity) is to become effective as a 
 dynamic force in community life, this risk of 
 misunderstanding must not be shirked. "Lan- 
 guage is like an instrument that requires to be 
 tuned occasionally; as no generation can be 
 satisfied to think the thoughts of the preceding 
 one, so no group of men in the world of letters 
 can use the language of the school that went 
 before them." The language of religion is 
 sadly in need of tuning. The sociologists who 
 are attempting to bring science and religion 
 together in the interests of man's welfare must, 
 perforce, speak in a new tongue. 
 
 ( I ) Christianity is primarily a philosophy 
 of life, and secondarily a system of belief. 
 Those who reverse this concept cause separa- 
 tism on the basis of differences of belief. In 
 this divisional process, the ethical content of 
 Christianity is subordinated. Religion is domi- 
 nated by theology, — which consists of other 
 persons' ideas about God, inspired writings, 
 atonement, sacraments, original sin and the 
 numerous other fractional elements of religion. 
 Theology begins with assumptions based upon 
 authorization. Philosophy begins with no 
 assumptions and ends with rationalizations. 
 Many of these rational concepts of philosophy 
 harmonize with theological concepts, but they 
 
198 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 become truth, not because someone has declared 
 them, but because they have become true to the 
 consciousness of the present individual. The 
 sociologist accepts the philosopher's interpreta- 
 tion of religion. He applies the test of Jesus: 
 "By their fruits ye shall know them." He sees 
 in Jesus the heroic attempt to blend the mystical 
 elements of religion with the ethical elements of 
 life. From the mass of things written and said 
 about Jesus, he selects those important words 
 and acts (primarily acts) which have universal 
 application. 
 
 Jesus made certain assumptions of behavior. 
 He said that it was ethically right to love your 
 enemy; He proceeded to demonstrate that this 
 was a vital principle of His life. Jesus as- 
 sumed that the natural corollary of the 
 Fatherhood of God was the Brotherhood of 
 Man. He demonstrated His principles by His 
 life. Jesus illustrated His ideas of spiritualized 
 social behavior by numerous examples of social 
 situations. His favorite method of clarifying 
 a principle of ethics was to imagine and to por- 
 tray an exact situation in which two courses of 
 action were open to the participators; He then 
 proceeded to indicate the selection which would 
 be made by the man whose religion motivated 
 his actions. When He was asked for an ex- 
 planation of His conception of the saving 
 
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP 199 
 
 powers of religion, He refrained from men- 
 tioning belief; He recalled a series of social 
 situations in which one might or might not feed 
 the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, take in the 
 stranger, clothe the naked, visit the sick or 
 those in prison. In sharpest contrast, He then 
 portrayed the behavior of the religious and of 
 the non-religious man. 
 
 Those who wish to spin fine theories of belief 
 out of the fragments of the Life of Jesus have 
 ample material. Those who view His Life as 
 a whole, with the purpose of selecting from it 
 those universal principles which are for all time, 
 see in Him the personification of modern social 
 idealism. 
 
 Since the ground was broken by Rauschen- 
 busch, there has followed a forceful series of 
 interpretations of the social significance of 
 Christianity. But the Christianity of our day 
 is firmly gripped by institutionalism. This is 
 our danger; namely, that we shall subordinate 
 the promotion of Christianity as a philosophy 
 of life to the preservation of our own organ- 
 ized form of Christianity based upon some re- 
 former's previous interpretation. It has been 
 said that a conservative is a person who is fol- 
 lowing a dead radical. In no sphere of life 
 does man dare less than in religion. Time itself 
 seems to have a sacred part to play in making 
 
200 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 revolutionary ideas of the past hallowed to the 
 present. Paul said: 'Trove all things; hold 
 fast to that which is true." The only part of 
 this valuable admonition which some seem to 
 remember is to "hold fast." Unless Chris- 
 tianity can be permeated with the new spirit of 
 dynamic social purpose, those who "hold fast" 
 may find themselves clinging to the dry husk of 
 institutionalism, while Christianity itself has 
 flown through the windows into the lives of 
 men. 
 
 (2) The methods of Christianity are socio- 
 logically scientific. Christianity is here used to 
 connote the methods of Jesus and the early 
 Christian Church. Jesus established certain 
 socio-ethical principles; the early Christian 
 .Church applied some of those principles in 
 social experimentation. 
 
 Since that time there has come into existence 
 a body of scientific knowledge, regarding man 
 as a socins or member of society. The so-called 
 social sciences are dependent upon the physical 
 sciences. The plural use of the term "science" 
 is a misnomer; there are no sciences, but Science. 
 When we speak of social sciences we use the 
 plural form of the word merely to denote a 
 division of science, and not to imply a separa- 
 tion. What is true of science, in general, is 
 also true of the science of man and of society. 
 
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP 201 
 
 Science believes in the search for Truth. It 
 has two major functions: to expose error and 
 to reveal Truth. This was the philosophy and 
 the method of Jesus. He believed so thoroughly 
 in the liberating powers of Truth, that He said 
 it alone could make one free. He used both 
 methods of Science; He exposed error, sham, 
 cant and hypocrisy wherever He found it, — and 
 He supplanted error with Truth. 
 
 Science believes that Truths are demon- 
 strable. It begins by observation of facts; 
 from thence it follows through the processes of 
 classification, experimentation, generalization, 
 demonstration and induction. Jesus stated cer- 
 tain ethical and social truths. He then pro- 
 ceeded to demonstrate those truths in His own 
 life. Thus, He said that it was possible to love 
 one's enemies. His contemporaries had been 
 taught the righteousness of hating enemies. 
 The Truth of Jesus was in direct conflict with 
 current thought. So far as the records go, He 
 never gave way to hatred of His enemies. He 
 not only demonstrated His Truth negatively, 
 but went so far as to extend love to those who 
 had persecuted Him. 
 
 Science believes in sharing its facts. There 
 is an actual brotherhood of scientists. They do 
 their work in the open. Their achievements 
 are published for all to read. Occasionally a 
 
202 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 bigot appears in the scientific field, but he is 
 soon put to rout; science and bigotry have 
 nothing in common. Jesus also did His work 
 in the open. He trained His followers in His 
 methods. He promised that greater things 
 might be done by them than He had done. He 
 imposed one condition: those who would follow 
 in His steps must be willing to pay the price. 
 There was nothing of quackery about His 
 method of work. 1 
 
 The adherents of the early Christian Church 
 believed in the socio-ethical principles of Jesus. 
 They established a social and an economic sys- 
 tem based upon these principles. They refused 
 to enter certain trades such as the manufacture 
 of idols. They refused to bear arms, and 
 placed their religion above nationalism. The 
 ethical and spiritual dangers of vested interests 
 in property were clearly recognized. They 
 believed in peaceful revolution — changing the 
 social structure with the weapons of non- 
 resistance. Their faith was not placed in legis- 
 lation, but in the fundamental changes of the 
 heart coupled to similar fundamental changes in 
 the social structure and process. All of this is 
 still good science. It would be folly to pretend 
 
 1 The above passages regarding the scientific nature of the methods 
 of Jesus have been borrowed largely from the illuminating para- 
 graphs of Professor Arthur J. Todd's book, "The Scientific Spirit and 
 Social Work," Macmillan, pp. 70-80. 
 
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP 203 
 
 that the exact methods of Jesus and the early 
 Christians could be utilized in the present, but 
 the unfolding of the social sciences appears to 
 prove that the principles indicated are increas- 
 ingly true. 
 
 (3) Christianity has a community obliga- 
 tion. We must now distinguish between Chris- 
 tianity and the Church. The Church is a 
 mechanism. It operates by means of boards, 
 committees, memberships, institutions — all 
 phases of social mechanics. Jesus trained a few 
 people in a simple technique before the day of 
 modern church programs. He interpreted God 
 as social purpose — the central figure in the 
 Kingdom of Heaven. Every problem was to 
 Him, first of all, a religious problem, and second- 
 arily, economic, political or social. His em- 
 phasis was upon the twofold salvation of the 
 individual and society. He once announced the 
 tremendous sociological fact that the Kingdom 
 of God was in man. The mystics have appro- 
 priated this statement as an indication of the 
 extreme mysticism of Jesus. The socially- 
 minded have an equal right to interpret it as an 
 implication of Jesus' fundamental belief that 
 the Kingdom of God and the Democracy of 
 Man are synonymous. 
 
 We now have "communities of Christians 
 that are not Christian communities." There 
 
204 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 are church-going populations whose religion is 
 used in much the same manner as a napkin; it 
 is worn during the church service on the Sab- 
 bath day and promptly removed when the serv- 
 ice is over. One day in seven the respectable, 
 law-abiding, right-minded people of the com- 
 munity turn aside from their usual tasks to re- 
 ceive spiritual nourishment. The pastor, a 
 specialist in spiritual forces, provides them with 
 discourse, song and prayer. And the old, old 
 evils continue. Business men drive sharp bar- 
 gains in utter forgetfulness of the social prin- 
 ciples of Jesus, namely: that it is ethically unjust 
 to do unto others as you would not be done by. 
 It is true, we refine our methods as social 
 contacts and controls become more intimate, 
 but to make gain at the expense of another's loss 
 is social sin under any guise. The leisure time 
 of the people — that great reservoir out of 
 which should come the creative expressions of 
 the community — is turned over to commercial 
 agencies who entertain for "revenue only" and 
 
 " . . . man with man 
 Jostles, and, in the brawl for means to live, 
 Life is trod underfoot, — Life, the one block 
 Of marble that's vouchsafed wherefrom to 
 carve 
 
 Our great thoughts, white and godlike, to shine 
 
 down 
 The future ..." 
 
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP 205 
 
 Competition rises superior to cooperation. 
 Class differences are allowed to become class 
 hatreds. Now and then an idealist lifts his 
 voice in protest, but the Christians become the 
 persecutors of his like. They are now in the 
 saddle and riding hard. The Christians are the 
 comfortably successful people of our time, and 
 it is discomforting to imagine how they would 
 receive the homeless, wandering, divinely dis- 
 contented teacher who was the Christ. 
 
 When Tolstoy came to a realization of the 
 universal Truth and Power of Jesus, he cried 
 out in anguish: "If Christians believe what they 
 say, how can they live as they do?" He then 
 proceeded to experiment with Christianity by 
 running away from the problems of the modern 
 community. This cannot be our method. 
 Christianity may have its other-worldly func- 
 tion, but it is also in the world to save the world. 
 No true follower of Jesus can escape his social 
 obligations. 
 
 What then is the Christian obligation to the 
 community? The so-called common people, 
 who heard Jesus so gladly and who received so 
 much attention from Him, are gradually drift- 
 ing away from the organized Church. They 
 are seeking the expression of their social ideal- 
 ism elsewhere. The Church is coming to be a 
 middle-class institution whose very architecture 
 
206 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 and service cause the manual worker to feel out 
 of place. Without them, — the so-called com- 
 mon people, — no success of the Church will be 
 worthy of the name of Christ. The processes 
 of education are growing apace. Soon the 
 working peoples of the world will be equipped 
 with the intellectual tools of leadership. The 
 true Christian is determined that these tools 
 shall be wielded with more of the grace of 
 Jesus than has been true of the authoritative 
 use of the tools in the hands of the ascendent 
 classes of the past two centuries. This is Chris- 
 tianity's first obligation: to make the creative 
 social movements of our time Christian in 
 character. 
 
 Inasmuch as this book is predicated upon the 
 thesis that the creative social movement of the 
 future is to be fundamentally and originally a 
 Community Movement, it is incumbent upon the 
 writer to indicate how Christianity may render 
 its obligation in the field of the local community. 
 
 Christianity and the Community 
 
 The Christianity of the modern world has 
 two distinct aspects : 
 
 (a) It is organized in the form of institu- 
 tions known as churches. 
 
 (b) It is a functional reality in agencies, 
 organizations, institutions, movements 
 
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP 207 
 
 and individual lives, — as an unorgan- 
 ized system of idealism and behavior. 
 
 The person who would orient Christianity to 
 the modern world, or vice versa, must be inter- 
 ested in both aspects of the problem. 
 
 The Church as an institution, in order to play 
 a vital role in the Community Movement, 
 should consider the following program: 
 
 (a) It should emphasize the universal rather 
 than the fractional elements of the 
 Christian religion. 
 
 (b) It should emphasize the scientific rather 
 than the mystical elements of the Chris- 
 tian religion. 
 
 (c) It should emphasize the ethical rather 
 than the creedal factors of the Christian 
 religion. 
 
 (d) It should emphasize the social rather 
 than the individual function of the 
 Christian religion. 
 
 (e) It should emphasize its special function, 
 namely, the spiritual interpretation of 
 the values of life. 
 
 (f) It should recognize the law of the divi- 
 sion of labor in social affairs. 
 
 (g) In delegating tasks to other agencies, 
 organizations and institutions, it should 
 not relinquish its interest and its super- 
 visory control. 
 
208 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 (h) It should train leaders for all worthy 
 causes leading toward social progress. 
 
 (i) It should apply its principles freely to 
 all political, social, economic, recrea- 
 tional and educational problems of the 
 community. 
 
 (j) It should furnish the inspiration of the 
 spiritual dynamic for running the social 
 machinery of the community. 
 
 The above program is overwhelming to most 
 people. Not many churches will dare to under- 
 take it; it would most certainly cause many 
 churches to come to grief. In those same 
 churches there would be "good" members who 
 would not blush to affirm that if the principles 
 of Jesus could be applied to our modern prob- 
 lems they could all be solved. Here and there 
 a few churches will make the venture, firmly 
 resolved that the Community Movement shall 
 be Christian in character. In them will be re- 
 quired a faith strong enough to stand with 
 Jesus in believing that there are times when 
 life can only be gained by its loss. For the 
 Christian Church the time for this test has 
 come. 
 
 STUDENT'S PROBLEMS 
 
 I. Chart the careers of a number of com- 
 munity leaders such as school superinten- 
 dents or principals, Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. 
 
CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP 209 
 
 C. A. secretaries, chamber of commerce 
 secretaries, etc., indicating, if possible, the 
 causes of rise and fall. 
 
 2. Study the files of the newspaper of some 
 smaller city to determine the nature and the 
 amount of publicity given to certain com- 
 munity leaders. 
 
 3. Write an essay on Jesus' methods of train- 
 ing leaders. 
 
 4. Prepare a bibliography on each of the 
 following topics : 
 
 (a) Community organization. 
 
 (b) Community studies. 
 
 (c) Community leadership. 
 
 (d) Community recreation. 
 
 (e) Community churches. 
 
 (f) The Rural Community. 
 
 5. Prepare a list of the national agencies deal- 
 ing with community organization problems. 
 
 6. Prepare a bibliography on the social sig- 
 nificance of the teachings of Jesus. 
 
 7. Outline the plans for an inter-church com- 
 mittee for a community with which you are 
 familiar; this committee to be charged with 
 the task of preparing a code of ethics for 
 its members. The code should include 
 ethics of business, politics, amusement and 
 sociable life. 
 
 8. Study the history of the early Christian 
 Church; prepare a list of the community 
 
210 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 problems of that time, and indicate how the 
 early Christians met these problems. 
 
 9. Study the biographies of a number of 
 leaders of your acquaintance; indicate their 
 characteristics and state how these traits 
 do or do not approximate Christ's mode of 
 life. 
 
 10. Prepare a confession of faith which will 
 serve as a tentative background for your 
 philosophy of life. 
 
ADDENDUM 
 
 A TWENTIETH CENTURY CONFESSION 
 OF FAITH 
 
 I have frequently been asked by students to 
 prepare a Twentieth Century Confession of 
 Faith. In a certain crisis caused by misunder- 
 standings. I formulated such a statement. It 
 has apparently been of some constructive value 
 to students ; a letter, which came as the closing 
 paragraphs of this book were being written, is 
 the cause for adding the Confession. 
 
 The Confession is not intended to be a creed. 
 It is merely a statement of the positive portions 
 of my present faith. No finality is attached to 
 any section. 
 
 I. I believe in God who is Love, Truth and 
 Purpose ; God who works with man and 
 not merely for him; God who fashions 
 ends, not beginnings; God who is pur- 
 pose, not cause. Because of the frag- 
 mentary nature of my own life I find it 
 most difficult to lead a unitary existence 
 without such faith. 
 
212 
 
 THE COMMUNITY 
 
 II. I believe in Jesus of Nazareth, the 
 teacher of Christian ethics and religion. 
 I believe so firmly in the universality of 
 His principles and teachings that I think 
 the world's fundamental social, eco- 
 nomic and political problems could be 
 solved if those principles could be freely 
 applied. 
 
 III. I believe in Science which is the revela- 
 tion of what is. The truth of science is 
 a vital part of that Truth which alone 
 can make us free. 
 
 IV. I believe in Religion which is the revela- 
 tion of what is to be. To me every prob- 
 lem is first a religious or a spiritual 
 problem; by uniting Science and Religion 
 I arrive at practical idealism. 
 
 V. I believe in Evolution. To me the one 
 outstanding and verifiable fact of the 
 universe is that nothing is static, and that 
 everything changes. An understanding 
 of the evolutionary processes gives me 
 freedom from the "hell of rigid things." 
 
 VI. I believe in Progress. It comes, not as 
 the result of blind force, but only when 
 the purpose of God and the will of man 
 approximate the same plane. Progress 
 is the result of conscious control; it 
 never comes by accident. Retrogression 
 is the expected result of uncontrolled 
 human passions and instincts; progress 
 is the exceptional result. 
 
CONFESSION OF FAITH 213 
 
 VII. I believe in the so-called Common Man. 
 It is through him that all great upward 
 movements of history have been brought 
 about. The fundamental insights of life 
 are within his reach; given the slightest 
 amount of freedom his course is upward 
 and onward. The favored and privi- 
 leged stand in greatest need of redemp- 
 tion. 
 
 VIII. I believe in Liberalism as a habit of 
 thought. Truth is relative like all other 
 factors of human existence. Therefore, 
 I may heartily disagree with what 
 another says, but with Carlyle I may also 
 "fight to the death for his right to say 
 it." The liberal thinks in terms of ten- 
 tative progress; he bides his time and 
 puts his faith in change. 
 
 IX. I believe in the Organic Nature of the 
 Human Family. Whether we will it or 
 not, the human family is destined to rise 
 or fall as a unit. All men are destined 
 to be my brothers, if by no other token 
 than the economic forces which bind us 
 together with bands of steel. 
 
 X. I believe in Democracy. That there can 
 be a state of society in which I may work 
 with enthusiasm for myself but with 
 equal enthusiasm for the common good is 
 to me a hopeful reality. The mere ma- 
 chinery of Democracy is incidental. 
 "Isms" lose their significance when we 
 approach Democracy as a mode of life. 
 
THE COMMUNITY 
 
 What the world now needs is spiritual 
 dynamic in sufficient quantity to effect an 
 harmonious relationship between the 
 Democratic Process and Specialism. 
 
 Eduard C. Lindeman. 
 
I 
 
 GENERAL INDEX* 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Agriculture 82-83 
 
 American Farm Bureau Federation 67 
 
 Applied Christianity 101 
 
 Board of Trade 93 
 
 Boy Scouts 96,156 
 
 British Labor Party 64 
 
 Brotherhood of Man 198 
 
 Budgets, Community 183-184 
 
 Chamber of Commerce .....93 
 
 Chambers of Commerce 175 
 
 Charity Organizations 90-92 
 
 Chautauquas 96 
 
 Christianity Has a Community Obligation 203-206 
 
 Christianity, Methods of 200-203 
 
 Christianity, a Philosophy of Life 197-200 
 
 Christianity Called the "Social Gospel" 101 
 
 Christianity: The Social Leadership Religion 196-206 
 
 Christianity, Social Significance of 199 
 
 City Government 85-86 
 
 Civil War 63 
 
 Columbus, Ohio, Political Urban Community 44 
 
 Commercial and Cooperative Organizations 93-94 
 
 Committees 180-181 
 
 Common Man 115,194-195 
 
 Common People 205 
 
 Community Center 68-69,160 
 
 Community Church Movement 71 
 
 Community Councils 69-70, 168-169 
 
 ♦Subjects discussed under particular headings are listed in the 
 Special Index— p. 219. 
 
 215 
 
PAGE 
 
 Community Movement, The 58-76,106,188-189 
 
 Community Service 96,157-158 
 
 Conservative, The 193 
 
 Constitution, The 61-62 
 
 Consumers' Cooperative Movement 66-67 
 
 Councils of Resistance 73 
 
 Councils of Social Agencies 165-168 
 
 Councils of Social Agencies, Principles of 166-167 
 
 Creative Social Movements 206 
 
 Critique of Community Organization 184-186 
 
 Declaration of Independence 61 
 
 Democracy 58,188 
 
 Democracy, Foe of 74 
 
 Democracy of Man 203 
 
 Democratic Process 132, 139, 173 
 
 Diminishing Returns of Overworked Leadership ....114-116 
 
 Division of Labor 99, 107,110 
 
 Duplication of Effort 113-114 
 
 Economics 85 
 
 Eighteenth Century 60 
 
 Extra-governmental Agencies 85,88-89 
 
 Ezekiel 59 
 
 Farm Bureau 67-68, 153-155 
 
 Farm-Cities 73 
 
 Fatherhood of God 198 
 
 Federal Congress 62 
 
 Forum Movement, The 69 
 
 French Revolution 61 
 
 Garden-Cities 73 
 
 German Empire 63 
 
 Girl Scouts 96 
 
 God as Social Purpose 203 
 
 Governmental Institutions of Community 86-87 
 
 Governmental Institutions 84-86 
 
 Grange 153 
 
 Hamilton, Alexander 62 
 
 Home Bureaus 155 
 
 Home-rule Legislation 65-66 
 
 216 
 
PAGE 
 
 Industrial Discipline 83-84 
 
 Institutionalism 23-24 
 
 Jefferson 62 
 
 Jeremiah 59 
 
 Jesus 75, 198-199 
 
 Jesus, Life of 199 
 
 Jesus, a Spiritual Specialist 190 
 
 Jewish Young Men's Association 96 
 
 Kidd 60 
 
 Kingdom of Heaven 203 
 
 Kiwanis Club 93 
 
 Knights of Columbus 96 
 
 Labor Movement 43 
 
 Lansing, Michigan, Political L'rban Community 44 
 
 Laws of Voluntary Aggregation and Association 103 
 
 Leadership 179-180 
 
 Leadership, Elements of Democratic Leadership ....1-89-196 
 
 Leadership, Urge toward 115 
 
 Leadership, Utilization of Specialized Leadership 191 
 
 Legalism 85 
 
 Leisure Time 204 
 
 Liberal, The 193 
 
 Locke 60 
 
 Loyalties, Varieties of 106 
 
 Loyalty to Institution or Group 102-103 
 
 Luther, Martin 60 
 
 Middle Ages , 60 
 
 Neighborhood Improvement Clubs 151-153 
 
 New Town 73 
 
 New York City, Commercial Urban Community 44 
 
 Nominalism .60 
 
 Parent-Teacher Associations 96 
 
 Plato 59-60 
 
 "Practical Christianity" 101 
 
 Protagoras 59 
 
 Protestant Churches 165 
 
 Public Ownership of Public Utilities 66 
 
 Public Schools 159-160 
 
 217 
 
PAGE 
 
 Quasi-governmental Institutions 87-88 
 
 Radical, The 193-194 
 
 Rauschenbusch 199 
 
 Reactionary, The 193 
 
 Realism 60 
 
 Recreation and Playground Association 156 
 
 Red Cross, The 156-157 
 
 Reformation, The 60 
 
 Religious Organizations 94-96 
 
 Rotary Club 93,174 
 
 Rural Mind 56 
 
 School Center Movement Ill 
 
 Science 200 
 
 Settlement House Movement 68 
 
 Seventeenth Century 60 
 
 Shop Stewards Movement 73 
 
 Sixteenth Century 60 
 
 Sociable Organizations 92-93 
 
 Social Agencies, Fields of 91 
 
 Social Engineers 185 
 
 Social Gospel, The 101 
 
 Social Law of Division of Labor 107 
 
 Social Machinery 142 
 
 Social Regard 103 
 
 Social Sciences 200 
 
 Social Unit Plan 70-71 
 
 Social Unit Plan of Organization 170-171 
 
 Social Unit Theory of Community Organization ....169-172 
 
 Social Work, Fields of 90-91 
 
 Society of Friends 73 
 
 Socio-ethical Principles of Jesus 202 
 
 Sociology 85 
 
 Socius 200 
 
 Socrates 59 
 
 Specialism 139 
 
 Specialist 139-140 
 
 Specialist, Function of 195 
 
 Spiritual Motive for Democracy and Leadership 189 
 
 218 
 
PAGE 
 
 Truth 200-201 
 
 Voluntary Agencies, Types of 89-97 
 
 Washington, D. C, Political Urban Community 46 
 
 Whiteley Councils 72 
 
 Women's Clubs 165 
 
 Woodrow Wilson 64 
 
 World War 64-65 
 
 Young Men's Christian Association 72,95, 156, 158-159 
 
 Young Men's Christian Association — County Work De- 
 partment 159 
 
 Young Women's Christian Association 72,95 
 
 Yucatan, Mexico 73 
 
 SPECIAL INDEX 
 
 CHURCH, THE: 
 
 Church, Function of 21-23 
 
 Community Church Movement, The 71 
 
 Creedal Factors .207 
 
 Division of Labor 207 
 
 Early Christian Church ,200 
 
 Ethical Factors 207 
 
 Fractional Elements 207 
 
 Individual Function 207 
 
 Institutional Church 108-109 
 
 Institutional Evolution of the Church 107-109 
 
 Mystical Elements 207 
 
 Program, Suggested for Use in Community Movement 207 
 
 Reformation, The Protestant Reformation 21, 60 
 
 Scientific Elements 207 
 
 Social Function- 207 
 
 Spiritual Dynamic 207 
 
 Spiritual Interpretation 207 
 
 Universal Elements j 207 
 
 219 
 
COMMUNITY: page 
 
 Agencies and Needs 77-98 
 
 Attributes of an Ideal Community 14-15 
 
 Budgets 183-184 
 
 Committees 180-181 
 
 Community, Definitions of 9-14 
 
 Community Institutions 17-25,82 
 
 Community Movement, The 58-75,106,188-189 
 
 Community Organizations, Examples of 150-151 
 
 Community Organizations, Principles of 172-184 
 
 Compromise 135-136 
 
 Conflict in Social Process 175 
 
 Conflict of Solutions 130-131 
 
 Consciousness of Need 124-125 
 
 "Council" 146 
 
 Council Plan of Organizing Social Agencies 167-168 
 
 Councils of Social Agencies, Principles of 165-167 
 
 Critique of Community Organization 184 
 
 Definitions of a Community 9-14 
 
 Democratic Process 132,139,173 
 
 Direct Method of Organization, Arguments fGr and 
 
 against 143-144 
 
 Direct Theory of Organization 142-143 
 
 Emotional Impulse to Meet Need 128-129 
 
 "Exchange" 146 
 
 "Federation" 146 
 
 Federation Idea 164 
 
 Indirect Theory of Organization, Arguments for and 
 
 against 146-148 
 
 Institutionalism 23-24 
 
 Institutions 17-24,82 
 
 Integration of Solutions 134-135 
 
 Investigation 131-132 
 
 Mass-meeting 132-133 
 
 Needs and Agencies 77-98 
 
 Needs, Aesthetic, Ethical, Intellectual, Material, Physi- 
 cal, Social 77 
 
 Needs, Classification of 79-80 
 
 Open Discussion 132-133 
 
 220 
 
PAGE 
 
 Plan of Organization 170-171 
 
 Presentation of Solutions 129-130 
 
 Principles of Community Organization 172-184 
 
 Projection of Consciousness of Need 126-128 
 
 Projects 177-178 
 
 Publicity 181-182 
 
 Rural Community, Definitions of 12,13 
 
 Social Engineers 185 
 
 Social Unit Plan 70-71 
 
 Specialist, Function of 195 
 
 Spreading the Consciousness of Need 125-126 
 
 Steps in Community Action 120-123 
 
 Subterranean Forces 176 
 
 Theories and Principles of Community Organization, 
 
 139-163 
 
 Types of Communities 9-10 
 
 Types of Community Organization 142-149 
 
 Vital-interest Groups 26-39, 174 
 
 COMMUNITIES, TYPES OF 9-14,40-57 
 
 Agricultural Cities or Towns 49-52 
 
 Commercial Urban Communities 43-44 
 
 Definitions of Communities 9-14 
 
 Educational Towns or Villages 52-53 
 
 Industrial Cities or Towns 47-49 
 
 Industrial Urban Communities 42-43 
 
 Open Country Communities 55-57 
 
 Open Country Communities, Significant Factors in Re- 
 gard to 57 
 
 Political Urban Communities 44-46 
 
 Suburban Communities 46-47 
 
 Urban Communities 41-42 
 
 Villages 53-55 
 
 COMMUNITY LEADER, THE: 
 
 Creative Contribution to Democracy 194 
 
 Dangers of Personal Advertisement 191-192 
 
 Democratic Leader 195-196 
 
 Diminishing Returns of Overworked Leadership ..114-116 
 221 
 
PAGE 
 
 Elements of Democratic Leadership 189-196 
 
 Function of the Specialist 195 
 
 Intellectual Tools of Leadership 206 
 
 Leadership 179-180 
 
 Philosophy of Life of the Leader 194-196 
 
 Publicity 181-182 
 
 Saturation Point in Personal Advertisement 191 
 
 Special Capacities of Leaders 190 
 
 Specialized Leadership, Utilization of 191 
 
 Types of Leaders 193-194 
 
 Urge toward Leadership 115 
 
 FAMILY, THE 18-21 
 
 Adaptations of the Family 20-21 
 
 Democratic Family, The 20 
 
 Functions of the Family 19 
 
 Stages of Evolution of the Family 20 
 
 INSTINCT 1-5 
 
 Self-assertion, Instinct of 1 
 
 Self-perpetuation, Instinct of 1 
 
 Self-preservation, Instinct of 1 
 
 Social Nature of the Instinct of Self-assertion 4, 5 
 
 Social Nature of the Instinct of Self-perpetuation ....3,4 
 Social Nature of the Instinct of Self-preservation ....2,3 
 
 VITAL-INTEREST GROUP, THE 26-39, 174 
 
 Church Group, The 34-36 
 
 Home or Family Group, The 27-29 
 
 Neighborhood Group, The 29-31 
 
 Play Group, The 31-33 
 
 School Group, The 33-34 
 
 Service Group, The 37-39 
 
 Vital-interest Group, The 26 
 
 Vital-interest Groups, Types of 26-27 
 
 Work Group, The 36-37 
 
 222 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
 Los Angeles 
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 
 
 JUN 51* 
 
 »WMUH18 1996 
 
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