e prices, two chief
concerns of the farmer's organizations were the establishment of
electricity throughout the county and the improvement of the area's
roads. The move towards rural electrification was a popular one across
the nation, cited continually as the one item most useful to the farmer
for advancing mechanization and of greatest importance in raising the
farm family's standard of living. With electricity the family could use
a radio, rid themselves of smoky kerosene lighting and enjoy the use of
more efficient and cleaner stoves and refrigeration. The pragmatic
desire for electrical equipment to operate milking machines and water
pumps was intensified by advertisements such as one which appeared in
the _Herndon News-Observer_ claiming that electricity would make life
"convenient and happy" as well as add fifteen to twenty years to the
farm woman's life.[175]

Unfortunately, the route to establishing electrical facilities in the
county was not an easy one. Some farmers used small gasoline engines to
produce power, but these, the "contrariest little machines," were
unreliable and frequently too weak to run milking equipment. Derr
reported that 98% of the farmers desired this convenience but the
expense seemed prohibitive. Commercial electric companies were reluctant
to build lines through sparsely settled areas, and the farmers were
forced to finance their own power plants. In 1933 the federal government
began a program to subsidize local electrification programs and make
them financially viable the only drawback being the undue amount of red
tape to go through involved in qualifying. "The cost of building new
lines was found to range from one thousand to two thousand dollars a
mile," stated a discouraged Derr. "We were hardly prepared to be told
that the farmers ... must organize a farm cooperative ... borrow the
money from the Government and build their own lines to be
self-liquidating in twenty years at 3% interest."[176] Difficult as the
process seemed, the farmers had little choice if they hoped to electrify
their neighborhoods. In this instance, an organization was not only an
advantage for success in furthering the community's amenities, but a
necessity.

That the Floris community was one of the earlier areas to enjoy the
benefits of electrification was a result of great effort on the part of
its citizens. A franchise for an electric power plant was granted to
Herndon in 1915 but never materialized, and