community. The
value of the newspaper to the community becomes especially
apparent when some local project is to be considered, like
the erection of a school, the building of good roads, or the
installation of a water system. For weeks the paper will
offer in the form of letters, the views of different people
of the community. The subject is thoroughly aired. Even if
the editor takes no sides in the matter, his paper has been
of inestimable service to the community."

Indeed, as we shall see later, such a free discussion is a most
essential step in all community activities, and the service of the
newspaper is probably greater if it acts as a free and open forum for
discussion rather than a partisan of either side. Of the news of the
future, Professor Atwood says:

"Most of these papers will also be printing much more farm
news than they do to-day because as the publishers have
surveyed their fields they will have found the primary
interest of their readers is agricultural. There will be
some exceptions for some communities will have ceased to be
dominated by agriculture because of the coming of factories.
The real country weeklies will not become agricultural text
hooks; but the news of the farms, the improvements to farm
buildings, and the experiences of successful local farmers
will find much space in their columns.

"The community editor of the future is not going to worry
much about 'hot' news. He will realize that most of the
striking facts of any story have already been printed in the
neighboring city papers, but he will realize also that the
genuine community interest in the event has not been
glimpsed by the city editor, who is out of touch with the
local situation; around these community aspects the local
editor will weave his story."

Possibly the best appreciation of the country weekly is a prose poem
written by Professor Bristow Adams, editor of the New York State College
of Agriculture, and presented at the first country newspaper conference
held at that institution during Farmers Week 1920, entitled "I am the
Country Weekly,"[46] and which vividly depicts its service as an agency
for developing community consciousness:

"I am the Country Weekly.

"I am the friend of the family, the bringer of tidings from
other friends; I spe