THE NEED FOR COOPERATION IN COMMUNITY LIFE
THE NEED FOR TEAMWORK
When people have common purposes and are dependent upon one
another in accomplishing them, there must be COOPERATION, which is
another name for "teamwork." A team of horses that does not pull
together can not haul a heavy load. A baseball team, though
composed of good players, will seldom win games unless its
teamwork is good. A few soldiers may easily disperse a large mob
because they have teamwork, while a mob usually does not. This
principle of "pulling together," "teamwork," or "cooperation," is
of the greatest importance in community life. There can be no real
community life without it.
SIMPLE TYPES OF COOPERATION
In the early days there were "barn raisings," when neighbors came
together to help one of their number to "raise" his barn; and all
the men of a pioneer community contributed their labor in building
the community church or schoolhouse. This was a simple form of
cooperation. It may be seen now at threshing time, when
neighboring farmers combine to thresh the grain of each, the same
group of men and the same threshing machine doing the work for
all. The United States Department of Agriculture reports that:
In a group of 14 farmers situated in a community in one of the
best farming regions in the corn belt, ... it was found that 5 men
out of the 14 failed to get all their corn planted by the last
week in May. They had worked as hard and as steadily at that
operation as had their neighbors, but they were delayed by one
cause or another, such as lack of labor or teams, or were handling
a larger acreage than their equipment would allow them to handle
satisfactorily. In this same community were 3 men who completed
all their planting operations before the 20th of May, and 5 others
who completed their work by the 25th of May. ... If all these men
had considered that corn planting was a national necessity and had
pooled their efforts, all of the corn on all the farms could have
been planted within the most favorable time. [Footnote: The Farm
Labor Problem, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the
Secretary, Circular No. 112, p. 5.]
Give other illustrations of this sort of cooperation from the farm
or community life of your neighborhood.
Give illustrations of such teamwork among boys and girls.
Give illustrations of the failure of enterprises in which you have
been interested because of a lack of teamwork.
Why is it an advantage for the farmers to use one threshing
machine for all the threshing of the neighborhood instead of each
farmer having his own machine?
ORGANIZED COOPERATION AND LEADERSHIP
As communities grow and the people become more dependent upon one
another, and especially when it becomes hard to see how one thing
that happens may affect others, as shown in Chapter II,
cooperation becomes more difficult, but it becomes even more
necessary. It needs to be ORGANIZED, and it needs LEADERSHIP. The
experience of fruit growers in California affords a good
illustration of this. When they acted independently of one
another, they often had difficulty in disposing of their product
to advantage. Sometimes it rotted on the ground. As individuals
they did not have the means of learning where the best markets
were. They had to make their own terms separately with the
railroads for transportation and since they shipped in small
quantities, they paid high freight rates. They had no adequate
means of storing fruit while it was awaiting shipment. They were
dependent upon commission merchants in the cities for such prices
as they could get, which were often practically nothing at all.
These and other difficulties that made fruit growing unprofitable
were overcome by the organization of fruit growers' associations,
in which each grower may become a member by purchasing shares of
stock. The members elect from their number a BOARD OF DIRECTORS,
who in turn appoint a BUSINESS MANAGER who gives his entire
attention to the association's business. The association has
central offices and storage and packing houses.
The manager keeps in close touch with market conditions,--where
the demand for fruit is greatest, the kinds of fruit wanted, the
best prices paid. He contracts for the sale of fruit at fair
prices. Shipping in large quantities, he gets the advantage of low
rates on fast freight trains with refrigerator cars. Uniform
methods of packing fruit are adopted, sometimes the fruit being
packed at the central packing house. Information is distributed as
to the best methods of growing fruit, the best varieties to grow,
and so on. On the other hand, supplies and provisions are bought
in large quantities, securing the best quality at the lowest
prices.
VOLUNTARY COOPERATION IN CITIES
In cities there are almost innumerable organizations by which
groups of people cooperate for one purpose or another. Men in the
same line of business or in the same profession organize to
promote their common interests. There are boards of trade,
chambers of commerce, merchants' and manufacturers' associations.
Lawyers have their bar associations, physicians their medical
associations. There are associations of teachers, and work men in
the various trades have their unions. Besides such business and
professional organizations, there are clubs and associations of
all sorts for men, for women, and even for children, some of them
educational, some social or recreational, some philanthropic, some
religious. Where there are so many people interested in the same
thing, where it is easy for them to meet together, and where
competent leadership is forthcoming, it is quite the usual thing
to organize for united action.
COOPERATION IN RURAL COMMUNITIES
In agricultural communities cooperation has developed more slowly.
Farmers have been too isolated from one another to make
organization easy, they have not fully realized its advantages,
and they have lacked leadership. This has been an obstacle to the
fullest development of community life. The most backward
communities are those where there is the least cooperation. In
such communities "the farmer works single-handed, getting no
strength from joint action or combined effort."
But all this is changing. Organizations like the fruit growers'
associations are becoming common and are proving their value. The
map on page 36 shows the distribution of organizations among
farmers in the United States for cooperation in business
enterprises of various kinds, though it shows only about half as
many as actually exist. They include cooperative grain elevators
and warehouses, creameries and cheese factories, cooperative
stores, fruit and grain growers' associations, livestock
associations, cotton and tobacco associations, and many others.
Study the map on page 36 and indicate the region or regions where
you think cooperative grain elevators and warehouses would be most
numerous; livestock associations; dairies and creameries; fruit
growers' associations; cotton growers' associations; tobacco
growers' associations.
Are there any organizations of farmers in your community similar
to those in the list in the last paragraph above? Make a list of
them. What are their purposes? What are their advantages? What
obstacles have they encountered? Are all the farmers in the
community members? If not, why? Describe their plans of
organization--membership, officers, management, etc. (Discuss
these questions at home and report results.)
Is there any organization of businessmen, or of workmen, in your
town or neighboring town? If so, ascertain what advantages it
seeks.
Show how an ordinary store, or a bank, or a grain elevator, is a
means by which people cooperate.
Are there any boys' or girls' clubs in your community? Show how
such clubs require and secure cooperation. How is leadership
provided?
If there is a parents' association connected with your school,
show how it brings about cooperation among its members in the
interest of the school.
Make a list of all the organizations you can think of in your
community (such as clubs, societies, associations). Opposite the
name of each write the chief purposes for which it exists.
Write the six great wants across the top of a page, as suggested
in the fifth topic on page 6, and arrange the list of
organizations suggested in the last question above in the proper
columns according to the wants they provide for.
Discuss the importance of leadership in school activities. What
are the qualities that make a good leader?
Who are some of the leaders in your community, both men and women?
THE FARM BUREAU
At the close of 1916 there were nearly three hundred "farm
bureaus" in the northern and western states with a membership of
nearly 100,000. A farm bureau is an organization to secure
cooperation throughout an entire county for the promotion of
agricultural interests. The members elect an executive committee
to manage the affairs of the bureau. In each of the small
communities of which the county is made up, there is a "community
committee." The chairmen of the several community committees
constitute a county agricultural council. The chairmen and members
of the various committees are chosen because of their interest in
special lines of work and their fitness to direct such work.
Various other organizations in the county, such as the fair
association, breeders' associations, the Grange, the schools, and
others, are represented in the committees of the bureau, the
purpose being to secure teamwork among them, as well as among the
different communities of the county and among the individual
farmers. The bureau also cooperates with the state and national
governments in employing a COUNTY AGRICULTURAL AGENT, who is the
bureau's adviser, or leader. In short, the farm bureau represents
the county working together in an organized way and under
leadership for the improvement of community life.
In the Year Book of the Department of Agriculture for the year
1915, the story is told of Christian County, Kentucky. [Footnote:
"How the Whole County Demonstrated," 1915 Year Book, U.S.
Department of Agriculture, pp. 225-248.]
A CASE OF COUNTY COOPERATION
This county is almost wholly agricultural, but the county seat is
a small city of 10,000. There had formerly been more or less
jealousy between the city and county, as too frequently happens.
But a businessmen's association was organized in the city, which
interested itself in bettering the agricultural conditions of the
county, because the business of the city was very dependent upon
the neighboring agriculture. A "crop improvement association" was
formed, including farmers in its membership. A county agricultural
agent was employed, and local community clubs were organized in
different parts of the county, which held meetings attended by the
farmers and their families, and by businessmen from the city. A
good roads association was organized, and a "good roads day" was
held on which businessmen turned out with the farmers, stores of
the city were closed, and on one of the principal roads at least
90 per cent of the workmen were city men. Stone was contributed by
contractors, concrete firms furnished men gratis to repair
bridges, one company supplied outfits for trimming trees, and a
large amount of work was done by the county and town working side
by side ... Such results could only be accomplished through unity
of purpose and cooperation of all the people.
Among other things accomplished in this county, a fair association
has been formed; medical instruction has been introduced into the
schools; a public library and hospital have been built; the school
system of the county has cooperated in all educational work; both
town and county merchants have offered prizes to members of the
boys' clubs; also for cooking in the schools, and have put women's
restrooms in the stores for the use of the public.
There is now an active girls' canning club in every community in
the county, attended by the girls and also by their mothers. There
are 12 social clubs which meet regularly; 15 parent-teachers' and
mothers' clubs; and there is not a school in the county which does
not have some form of community meeting. The schoolhouses are
generally used for the meetings of the community clubs. In some
instances farmers have given sufficient ground for amusement
purposes at the schoolhouses. Here may be found the ball diamond,
tennis court, and basketball courts.
It is said of this county that it "stands as a demonstration of
the effect of education and organization under the proper
leadership. THE TOWN AND THE COUNTY ARE ONE. The result is better
agriculture, better business, and better living." Write a brief
theme on one of the following topics:
(a) The importance of the telephone as a means of cooperation in
my community.
(b) Instances in my community where bad roads have caused a lack
of cooperation.
(c) Instances in my community where improvement of roads has led
to better cooperation.
In what ways do you think there is need for better cooperation in
your community? Discuss this with your parents, and report in
class the result of your talk with them.
Is there any organized cooperation in your community or county as
a whole for the general improvement of the community or county?
Investigate the organization and work of a farm bureau. (If there
is none in your county, write to your State Agricultural College
or to the States Relations Service, Department of Agriculture,
Washington, D.C., for information. See references at the end of
this chapter.)
PUBLIC LIBRARY AS AN EXAMPLE
Cooperation is as necessary for the fullest satisfaction of our
other wants as it is in the business of making a living. In one
pioneer community there were few "books and papers and they were
handed about from house to house." There may be comparatively few
people in a community who can afford to buy a hundred books each
year; but there may easily be a hundred persons who could buy one
book each, and by some arrangement exchange with one another, so
that each could in the course of a year have the use of a hundred
books. Neighborhood clubs are often organized to subscribe for
magazines on this plan. A public library provides an arrangement
by which a great variety of good reading matter can be enjoyed by
the entire community at trifling cost to each member. In fact, we
may be able to draw books from such a library without any cost to
ourselves; but the books which we thus enjoy do cost the community
a large sum of money, and our free enjoyment of them is one of the
advantages of community cooperation. Our part in the cooperation
is in using the books carefully and in returning them promptly, so
that as many people as possible may have the use of them.
NATION-WIDE COOPERATION
The necessity for cooperation is by no means limited to our
neighborhood or county or city. People with common purposes
organize for cooperation on a state-wide or nation-wide scale.
Following is a list of national organizations in the interest of
agriculture. As our study proceeds, we shall have abundant
illustration of the value of cooperation and of the disadvantages
that follow from its absence.
FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS
American Cooperative Association (Cooperative League of America).
American Dairy Farmers' Association.
American Federation of Organized Farmers.
American National Live Stock Association.
American Pomological Society.
American Poultry Association.
American Society of Equity.
Corn Belt Meat Producers' Association,
Dairy Cattle Congress.
Farm Women's National Congress.
Farmers' Educational and Cooperative Union of America (The
Farmers' Union).
Farmers' Equity Union.
Farmers' National Congress.
Farmers' Society of Equity.
Federation of Jewish Farmers of America.
Gleaners, The Ancient Order of.
Grange, National (Patrons of Husbandry).
National Agricultural Organization Society.
National Board of Farm Organizations.
National Council of Farmers' Cooperative Associations.
National Dairy Council.
National Dairy Union.
National Farmers' Associations.
National Farmers' Cooperative Grain and Live Stock Associations.
National Nut Growers' Association.
National Society of Record Associations.
National Swine Growers' Association.
National Wool Growers' Association.
National Women's Farm and Garden Association.
Southern Rice Growers' Association.
COOPERATION A MATTER OF HABIT
Cooperation is largely a matter of habit. Habits can be formed
only by practice; and opportunity to practice cooperation is
abundant if we are only on the lookout for it. We shall find that
it not only secures better results in whatever we are doing, but
that it also adds greatly to the enjoyment of life. Let us not
forget that cooperation merely means "team work," working together
for the common good.
"They who cannot or will not work together are always in a weak
position when brought into competition with those who can and do."
[Footnote: Carver, The Organization of a Rural Community, p. 5.]
If there is a public library in your community, what benefits do
you get from it? About how many books do you draw from it in the
course of a year? What would these books cost you if you bought
them? What do they cost you when you draw them from the library?
Usually a fine is imposed for keeping a book from the library
beyond a specified time. Show why this is proper.
Do you have the use of a "traveling library" in your school or
community? If so, where do the books come from? Show how it
secures cooperation.
Give examples of cooperation in your home, and show what is gained
by it.
In what ways do you think that cooperation could be improved in
your home? Work out a plan for it.
Give examples of cooperation in your school.
Suggest plans for more and better cooperation in your school.
In what ways have you cooperated with others during the last month
for the good of the community in which you live?
Make a list in your notebook of ways in which you think you could
cooperate with others to promote the welfare of your community,
and add to the list from time to time as new opportunities for
such cooperation occur to you.
Are any of the national organizations in the list on page 35
represented in your community? What are their purposes? (Consult
parents and friends.)
READINGS
Lessons in Community and National Life
Series A: Lesson 1, Some fundamental aspects of social organization.
Lesson 3, The cooperation of specialists in modern society.
Lesson 7, Organization.
Lesson 8, The rise of machine industry.
Series B: Lesson 4, Feeding a city.
Lesson 25, Concentration of production in the meat packing
industry.
Lesson 26, Concentration in the marketing of citrus fruits
The publications of the United States Department of Agriculture
have a wide range of material relating to practical cooperation.
The following selected titles are illustrative.
The threshing ring in the corn belt, Year Book 1918, 247-268.
Boys' Pig Club Work, Year Book 1915, 173-188.
Poultry Club Work in the South, Year Book 1915, 193-200.
How the whole county demonstrated, Year Book 1915, 225-248.
Organization of rural interests, Year Book 1913, 239-258.
Organization of a rural community, Year Book 1914, 89-138.
Cooperative purchasing and marketing organizations, Department of
Agriculture Bulletin No. 547.
Cooperative grain companies, Department of Agriculture Bulletin
No. 371.
Cooperative stores, Department of Agriculture Bulletin. No. 394.
County Organization, States Relations Service Document 65.
Farm Bureau Organization, States Relations Service Document 54.
See note on reference material in Introduction with regard to
method of applying for this material. The assistance of the local
county agent, the state agricultural college, or of the
congressman, may be enlisted if necessary.
Cooperative enterprise in North Carolina, North Carolina Club Year
Book, 1915-1916, pp. 47-49, University of North Carolina, Chapel
Hill, N. C.
Publications of the State Agricultural College and Experiment
Station of your own state, relating to cooperation.
Tufts, James H, The Real Business of Living, chaps ii, iii, viii,
xv, xvi.