ession of the activities of every-day life, and should be
encouraged everywhere. Dramatics and pageantry are native to the
countryside. The fair and festival are rural institutions.

_Commercial Amusements; Moving Pictures._--A certain form of recreation
may be secured through amusements which involve mere passive
participation upon the part of the spectators, as in various
entertainments, dramatics, etc. As long as those giving the
entertainment are local people, friends or relatives, the audience takes
a more or less sympathetic part in the performance and is not actuated
solely by the desire to purchase pleasurable sensations as is the case
with commercial amusements. I mean by commercial amusements those which
are operated solely for profit, whose advantages the individual
purchases for his own pleasure rather than with any idea of
participating in a group activity. Commercial amusements have their
place and may be of great benefit, but they are largely an
individualistic form of enjoyment and tend to make the spectator
increasingly dependent upon passive pleasurable sensations, and do not
have the social value of those forms of play in which one actively
participates as a member of a group.

Although commercial amusements have these limitations, yet they have
very real values which might be secured for many rural communities if
they were operated on a cooperative basis by the people themselves
rather than merely for profit by an individual. Motion pictures are now
the most popular form of commercial amusement and have unlimited
possibilities when operated for the good of the community rather than
for profit alone. It is now possible to secure relatively cheap
projection outfits and electric plants, so that many small communities
are now operating their own motion picture shows. In many places this is
one of the leading attractions at the community building and is a source
of revenue for its maintenance. In such places the motion picture
entertainment is becoming a sort of family affair, and when it can be so
operated as to secure the attendance of the family as a group the
objectionable features will soon disappear. Indeed, there is a
well-organized effort on the part of certain motion picture firms to
supply films for just this type of entertainments. Moreover, the
picture show may possibly be supplemented with other features which will
make a more attractive evening's entertainment, especially in small
places w