t it has introduced people to one another,
brightened circumscribed lives, and taught the people social
understanding and sympathy. But aside from all such artificial forms
of co-operation, the very custom of providing such common institutions
as the school and the church is a valuable form of social service,
entirely apart from the specific results that come from the exercises
of the schoolroom and the meeting-house.

112. =Why Co-operation May Fail.=--Many co-operative enterprises fail,
and this is not strange. There is always the natural conservatism and
individualism of the American people to contend with; there is
jealousy of the men who have been elected to responsible offices, and
there is lack of experience and good judgment by those who undertake
to engineer the active organization. Sometimes the method of
organization or financing is faulty. Such enterprises work best among
foreigners who have a good opinion of them, and know how to conduct
them because they have seen them work well in Europe. Every successful
attempt at economic co-operation is a distinct gain for rural
community betterment, for upon co-operation depends the success of the
efforts being put forth for rural improvement generally.

113. =Competition Within the Group.=--Co-operation is of greatest
value when it includes within it a wholesome amount of individual
competition for the sake of general as well as individual gain. Boys'
agricultural clubs, organized in the South and West, have raised the
standards of corn and tomato production by stimulating a friendly
spirit of rivalry among boys, and as a result the fathers of the boys
have adopted new and more scientific methods to increase their own
production. Agricultural fairs may be made powerful agencies for a
similar stimulus. At State and county fairs agricultural colleges and
experiment stations find it worth while to exhibit their methods and
processes with the results obtained; wide-awake farmers get new ideas,
which they try out subsequently at home; young people are encouraged
to try for the premiums offered the next year, and steadily the
general level of excellence rises throughout the district.

READING REFERENCES

MCKEEVER: _Farm Boys and Girls_, pages 171-196, 275-305.

GILLETTE: _Rural Sociology_, pages 20-31.

"Country Life," _Annals of American Academy_, pages 58-68.

KERN: _Among Country Schools_, pages 129-157.

FORD: _Co-operation in New England_, pages