s gradually
established. On the other hand, a nearby community in southern New York
comes to mind, in which there is a colony of Bohemians, and another of
Finns, which have been fairly successful in building up hill farms
deserted by the descendants of the original settlers, and yet the
community as a whole has done little toward making these people feel
that they are a part of its life, although their industry is one of its
largest economic assets. "America is the home of the free" and most of
our people do desire a real democracy, but we seem to have assumed that
it will develop spontaneously, and we have not appreciated that good
will and common understanding require some means of acquaintance and
exchange of ideas, and that the interests and desires of all the people
in a community, young and old, must receive recognition. Unless we can
establish democracy in our own local community, how can we expect it in
the state or nation?

A second factor in community life is the age of its people. How often do
you find a community composed chiefly of elderly people which is
progressive? In the more progressive communities are not the middle-aged
and young married people in control? The younger people desire better
advantages for themselves and particularly for their children, and so
they stand for better schools, better churches, and better facilities
for all phases of community life. It is largely for this reason, it
seems to me, that older communities seem to have cycles of relative
decline and progress, according to the proportion of older and younger
people. It is to be hoped that in future generations the ability to
"keep young" may become more common; indeed, this is one of the chief
objectives of modern education.

The density of population is also a determining factor with regard to
many phases of community life, for it is obviously much easier to carry
on many community activities where the people live fairly close together
and not very far from the community center, than where the country is
but sparsely settled. Even with automobiles and telephones, the distance
between homes will have a large influence in determining the nature of
community activities. One of the most difficult of our rural problems
is how to bring to the people in sparsely settled regions the advantages
which they rightly crave. It will be physically and economically
impossible for them to have as good opportunities as sections which are
more d