he nature of
the rural community we may say that _a rural community consists of the
people in a local area tributary to the center of their common
interests_.

Obviously the community thus defined has nothing to do with political
areas or boundaries, for very commonly a community may lie in two or
three townships or counties. That rural areas are actually divided into
such communities and that the community is the primary unit of their
social organization may best be tested by taking any given county or
township and attempting to map its area into communities on the basis
above described. In most of the northern and western states and
throughout much of the South, most of the territory may be quite readily
divided into communities. This has been demonstrated by the rural
surveys of the Interchurch World Movement[3] and by the community maps
made by County Farm Bureaus.

A very large part of the South, however, has no natural community
centers and in such sections it will be found very difficult if not
impossible to define community areas. The store may be at the railroad
station, the church in the open country, and the district or
consolidated school at still another point. Some people go to one store
or church and others to another. Under such conditions, no real
community exists. Usually, any form of social organization is more or
less difficult under such conditions, for the people are divided into
different groups for different purposes and there is nothing which makes
united activities possible. It seems probable that only to the extent
that certain centers of social and economic life come to be recognized
by the people, and community life is developed around them, will the
most effective and satisfying social organization be possible.

Recognition of the community as the primary unit for purposes of rural
organization has now become quite general. Several mid-western states
have passed legislation permitting school districts to combine into
community districts for the support of consolidated schools or high
schools, irrespective of township or county boundaries. The present
tendency in the centralization of rural schools seems to be in the
direction of locating them at the natural community centers. Rural
churches are coming into a new sense of responsibility to the community
and the community church is increasingly advocated. The American Red
Cross in planning its peace-time program is recognizing the importan