al government and the "carpet-baggers'" efforts at establishing local
townships were repudiated with the ending of their regime. Only in
recent years have conditions throughout the South, largely the result of
increased immigration and the breaking up of large plantations, favored
the development of local communities.

In general, the American farmer has voted and taken his share in local
politics and government, has attended his own church, has traded where
most convenient or advantageous, has joined the nearest grange or lodge,
and with his family has visited nearby friends and relatives and joined
with them in social festivities; he has loyally supported these various
interests, but until very recently, he has had little conception of the
interrelations of these institutions in the life of the community or of
the possible advantages of community development as such. But new wants
and new problems have arisen which may only be met by the united action
of all elements of both village and countryside. The automobile demands
better roads and both farmer and businessman are interested to have them
built so that the natural community centers may be most easily reached.
Better schools, libraries, facilities for recreation and social life,
organization for the improvement of agriculture and for the better
marketing of farm products, are all community problems and force
attention upon the community area to be served by these institutions. A
consolidated school or a library cannot be maintained at every
crossroads. Only by the support of all the people within a reasonable
distance of a common center are better rural institutions possible.

The trend of events was thus bringing about a recognition of the place
of the community in the life of rural people, when the Great War
hastened this process by many years. Liberty Loan, Red Cross, and other
war "drives" were organized by communities which vied with each other in
raising their quotas. A new sense of the unity of the community was
brought about by the common loyalty to its boys in the nation's service.
Having created state and county councils of defense, national leaders
came to appreciate that the primary unit for effective organization for
war purposes must be the community, and President Wilson wrote to the
State Councils of Defense urging the organization of community councils.
Thousands of these had been organized when the Armistice was declared,
and although most of the