North Carolina community progress, November 1, 1920

              NORTH    CAROLINA
Community Progress
VOLUME  2
NOVEMBER   1,   1920
NUMBER 3
Published Twice a Month By the North Carolina College For Women, Greensboro, N. C.
RURAL HOPE
Third Annual Country Life Conference Strikes
A New Note
TA METilCAN people have become accustomed to
£~\ thinking of rural life in terms of despair. The
hopeless side of country living has been emphasized
so frequently during the past twenty years that
many people have come to believe that the country
is in a state of progressive decay. Those who attended the Third
Annual Conference of
the American Country
Ijife Association at
Springfield, Massachusetts, last week came
;uvay with a different
attitude.
The theme of this
conference was "Rural
Organization," and after the speakers had e:i
umerated the manifest
extent of organization
among count ry people
one was led to believe
that the country people
are awake to their
greatest problem,
namely that of organizing themelves for effective and co-operative action.
The American Country Life Association is organ-
lzed upon the basis of standing committees made up
of specialists in the various fields of country life.
^ is distinguished from other rural organizations in
fiat it lays its emphasis upon the human aspects
of agriculture. One of its precepts is that "the
farmer is more important than the farm." In the
reports of these committees of this year it was
clearly evident that progress in country life has become a reality.
Marked  progress was depicted  in almost every
"The aim of community organization should be to so educate a community that its people may achieve social consciousness, self-direction and permanent growth in community character."
Prof. Dwight Sanderson.
line of human endeavor which goes to make life more
satisfying. Consolidation of schools is proceeding
with great rapidity; county and traveling libraries
are extending library service to increasing numbers
of rural residents; visiting nurses are being requested in numbers larger than the supply; numerous movements looking
toward physical education and recreation are
in process; colleges,
normal schools and universities are introducing courses in rural
sociology; the national
agencies engaged in rural social work are beginning to co-ordinate
their programs; the rural church is grappling
with its peculiar problem in a dynamic manner; the rural home is
being recognized in a
new and encouraging
way as the center of all
social organization; rural government and legislation is undergoing a far-
reaching change; county communities are thinking
about country planning and are as integral parts
of community life; road-building in country districts is proceeding with unprecedented rapidity;
and, the country life movement is on the verge of
an international understanding.
Ferhaps the most interesting part of this country
life conference was the attention given to the theory
and practice of rural community organization.    It
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