ural people have greater need of mental
hygiene than have those who live in the cities. Many alienists, on the
contrary, believe the city more in need of mind-conserving activities,
and, although there is no satisfactory basis for comparison, it would
seem as a result of the data gathered by the last census[3] that their
conclusion is reasonable in light of the evidence we have at present
regarding conditions in this country. The country needs emphasis
because it can be more easily neglected than the city.

People in the country are less likely to realize the needs of mental
hygiene. As a rule, rural conditions that should challenge the attention
of the leaders of the communities are not spectacular and appear in
isolation. In urban life, on the other hand, thoughtful social workers
are bound to see many individual cases that belong to the defective
group as a mass, and thereby to realize the seriousness of the problem.
If the rural leaders could put together the cases of social
maladjustment present in many different communities, there is no doubt
that the great need of mental hygiene in the country would be easily
recognized.

It is also true that mental hygiene propaganda is somewhat more
difficult in the country, partly because of the temper of mind of rural
leadership and partly because of the lack of means for the reaching of
popular attention. People are not likely to be spontaneously interested
in the mental hygiene movement. They require the instruction and
inspiration that come through the personality of the alienist.
Fortunately our daily and weekly papers realize the seriousness of the
mental hygiene propaganda and they circulate both in the country and in
the city. This fact is making many of the leading people in the country
nearly as familiar with the problem of mental hygiene as are city
leaders.

Even though we know less than we should like concerning the amount and
the significance of mental deficiency in the country, we already have
information that reveals the need of mental hygiene effort among rural
folk. The report of the New Hampshire Children's Commission made in 1915
contains a significant conclusion in regard to the feeble-mindedness in
the rural section of that state. "One of the most significant studies
that can be made in the survey of these counties is the geographic
distribution of the feeble-minded and the proportion of the entire
state population that falls within this defective clas