Herein lies the value of beginning the process of community
organization by some enterprise which enlists the enthusiastic support
of the whole community, for in such activities new leadership is often
developed.

Any form of community organization which is to be permanent and
effective must represent the actual life of the community, which is
largely dominated by existing organizations. Most individuals are loyal
to certain of these organizations and these loyalties are the social
realities which must be recognized in any attempt to unite them in
larger aims. Unless most of the leading organizations of a community can
be affiliated for community progress, any so-called community
organization will be but another organization. The League of Nations
hardly represents the world community as long as the United States,
Germany and Russia are not affiliated with it, nor would our federal
government be representative of our national life if it were
responsible only to the direct vote of the people and did not give
recognition to the states as states. It is for this reason that
community organization will proceed most efficiently where it is
initiated by the joint effort of several of its leading associations,
the churches, the grange, the farm and home bureau, the Red Cross, the
business men's association, etc., for without their support a divided
loyalty will persist.

For the same reason, a community organization cannot be under the
auspices of any one existing organization as a chamber of commerce or
farm bureau. Both of these and others are community organizations, but
they are for specific purposes. Proponents of both of these have
advocated making them community-wide and all-embracing in their
functions, but it needs but little reflection to show the impossibility
of such a plan. To cite but one objection. The rural church is the most
deeply-rooted and in many ways the most powerful of rural institutions.
It can cooperate with these other organizations for community purposes,
but neither of them can enter into the religious field. The same is true
of lodges, schools, health organizations, government, etc. Community
organizations, such as the Chamber of Commerce or Commercial Club, the
Grange and the Farm Bureau for agriculture and homemaking, the Red Cross
for its activities, Church Federations, and others should all be
encouraged where needed, but although each of these has certain
community functions, no one of them