laboratories,
dispensaries, nurses, physicians, and health officers. This
committee endorses the growing tendency through public
agencies to maintain the health of the people by means of
these facilities and agencies."

The life of rural people in America is no longer threatened by the
invasion of human foes, but it is constantly threatened by disease. It
would seem that the first public concern would be for the maintenance of
the health--the very life--of its people, but as yet we have given much
less thought to health than to education. The New York State Department
of Health has as its slogan: "Public health is purchasable. Within
natural limitations any community can determine its own death rate."
This is no longer theory, but can be demonstrated by official mortality
statistics. The death rate has declined more rapidly in cities than in
rural communities because the cities have given more adequate support to
public health organization. The rural community has all the natural
advantages in its favor and will ever have the most healthful
environment, but it must recognize that if preventable disease--with all
its attendant evils to the family and to the individual--is to be
reduced, this can be accomplished only through education and public
health agencies. Better health is a matter of the hygiene of the home
and the individual, but it has also become a concern of the common
life--a community problem.

FOOTNOTES:

[54] "A Study of Sickness in Dutchess County, New York." State Charities
Aid Association, New York City.

[55] L. L. Lumsden, "Rural Sanitation," U. S. Public Health Service.
Public Health Bulletin No. 94, Oct., 1918.

[56] See Dr. W. S. Rankin, "Report of Committee on Rural Health,"
Proceedings Second National Country Life Conference, p. 93.

[57] "An Adventure in Rural Health Service." Proceedings Second National
Country Life Conference, p. 47.

CHAPTER XIII

THE COMMUNITY'S PLAY AND RECREATION

The people of most rural communities have an unsatisfied desire for more
play, recreation, and sociable life. Opportunities for enjoyment seem
more available in the towns and cities and are therefore a leading cause
of the great exodus. Economic prosperity and good wages are not alone
sufficient to keep people on farms and in villages if their income will
not purchase the satisfactions they desire. To a certain extent many of
these advantages of the town and city can be