Community Civics and Rural Life Part 2

OUR UNALIENABLE RIGHTS

The statement that "all men are created equal" has troubled many people when they have thought of the obvious inequalities that exist in natural ability and opportunity. But whatever inequalities may exist, people are absolutely equal in their RIGHT to satisfy the wants described in this chapter. These are the "unalienable rights" which the Declaration of Independence sums up in the phrase "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." That community is best to live in that most nearly provides equal opportunity for all its citizens to enjoy these rights. From the Declaration of Independence to the present day, our great national purpose has been to increase this opportunity, even though at times we have apparently not been conscious of it, and even though we have fallen short of its fulfillment. One of the chief objects of our study is to find out how our communities are seeking to accomplish this purpose.

"The Declaration of Independence did not mention the questions of our day. It is of no consequence to us unless we can translate its general terms into examples of the present day and subst.i.tute them in some vital way for the examples it itself gives, so concrete, so intimately involved in the circ.u.mstances of the day in which it was conceived and written. It is an eminently practical doc.u.ment, meant for the use of practical men ... Unless we can translate it into the questions of our own day, we are not worthy of it, we are not sons of the sires who acted in response to its challenge."-- Woodrow Wilson, in The New Freedom, pp. 48, 49.

A and B are two boys of the same age. One was born in a rich family, and one in a very poor family. So far as this accident of birth is concerned, have they equal OPPORTUNITY to satisfy the wants of life? Have they an equal RIGHT to health? to an education? to pleasant surroundings? to earn a good living?

Suppose A is a Native American boy, and B a foreign-born boy who speaks a foreign language: does this make any difference in their RIGHT to life and health, an education, etc.? Does it make any difference in their OPPORTUNITY to satisfy their wants in these directions?

Can you think of persons in your community who have less OPPORTUNITY to satisfy their wants than you have? Can you think of any persons who have less RIGHT to satisfy their wants than you have?

The first ten amendments to the Const.i.tution of the United States comprise what is known as a "bill of rights." Study together in cla.s.s this bill of rights (see Appendix) to see how many of the wants described in this chapter are there, provided for directly and indirectly.

Has your state const.i.tution a bill of rights? If so, read it together in cla.s.s for the same purpose as suggested in the last question.

READINGS

Preamble of the Const.i.tution of the United States (see Appendix).

The Declaration of Independence.

Dunn, Arthur W., The Community and the Citizen, Chapters, i, iv.

(Heath).

Tufts, James H., The Real Business of Living (Henry Holt & Co.), Chapter x.x.xix, ("Democracy as Equality").

Van d.y.k.e, Henry, "Equality of Opportunity," in Long's American Patriotic Prose, pp. 311, 312 (Heath).

See the note on reference materials in the Introduction to this book.

It should become a HABIT of both teacher and pupils to be on the constant lookout for news items and discussions in available newspapers and periodicals ill.u.s.trative of the points made in each chapter or lesson. Individual sc.r.a.pbooks may be made, but more important than this is the a.s.sembling of such material as a cla.s.s enterprise, its cla.s.sification under proper heads, and its preservation in sc.r.a.pbooks or in files as working material for succeeding cla.s.ses. There will always be enough for each cla.s.s to do, while each cla.s.s at the same time contributes to the success of the work of later cla.s.ses. The idea of SERVICE should dominate such work.

CHAPTER II

HOW WE DEPEND UPON ONE ANOTHER IN COMMUNITY LIFE

INTERDEPENDENCE AN IMPORTANT FACT

Nothing could be freer than air. But even as we sit in our schoolroom, whether or not we get all the pure air we need, depends upon how the schoolhouse was built for ventilation, the number of people who occupy the room, the care that is taken by others to keep the room free from dust, the health and cleanliness of those who sit in the room with us. If this dependence upon others is true in the case of the very air we breathe, how much more true it must be of other necessities of life that are not so abundant.

This dependence of people upon one another for the satisfaction of their wants is one of the most important facts about community life. It is not merely that A and B have the SAME wants, but that A is dependent upon B, and B upon A, for the satisfaction of their wants, that makes their wants COMMON.

Mention the people, both inside and outside of your home, who had a share in providing for you the food you had for breakfast or dinner.

Mention all the workers that occur to you who have been employed in producing the clothing you wear; the book you are reading; the materials of which your house is built.

Show how the people who produce these things are dependent upon your wants for their livelihood.

Show that you are dependent upon other people for your education; for recreation. Are other people dependent upon your education for their welfare? Are others dependent on you for their recreation?

INDEPENDENCE OF THE PIONEER

The farmer's life is often spoken of as an independent life. His independence was certainly much more complete in pioneer days than it is now. In regard to the early days of Indiana, it has been said:

Give the pioneer farmer an axe and an auger, or in place of the last a burning iron, and he could make almost any machine that he was wont to work with. With his sharp axe he could not only cut the logs for his cabin and notch them down, but he could make a close-fitting door and supply it with wooden hinges and a neat latch. From the roots of an oak or ash he could fas.h.i.+on his hames and sled runners; he could make an axle-tree for his wagon, a rake, a flax brake, a barrow, a scythe-snath, a grain cradle a pitchfork, a loom, a reel, a washboard, a stool, a chair, a table, a bedstead, a dresser, and a cradle in which to rock the baby. If he was more than ordinarily clever, he repaired his own cooperage, and adding a drawing knife to his kit of tools, he even went so far as to make his own casks, tubs, and buckets. He made and mended his own shoes. [Footnote: Quoted in Pioneer Indianapolis, by Ida Stearns Stickney, p. 11 (Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis).]

We also read that in early New England:

Every farmhouse was a manufactory, not of one kind of goods, but of many. All day long in the chamber or attic the sound of the spinning-wheel and loom could be heard. Carpets, shawls, bedspreads, tablecovers, towels, and cloth for garments were made from materials made on the farm. The kitchen of the house was a baker's shop, a confectioner's establishment, and a chemist's laboratory. Every kind of food for immediate use was prepared there daily; and on special occasions sausages, head cheese, pickles, apple b.u.t.ter, and preserves were made. It was also the place where soap, candles, and vinegar were manufactured.

Agricultural implements were then few and simple, and farmers made as many of them as they could. Every farmhouse was a creamery and cheese factory. As there were no sewing machines, the farmer's wife and daughters had to ply the hand needle most of the time when they were not engaged in more laborious pursuits. During the long evenings they generally knit socks and mittens or made rag carpets. [Footnote: Nourse, Agricultural Economics, p 64, from "The Farmer's Changed Conditions," by Rodney Welsh, in the Forum, x, 689-92 (Feb., 1891).]

THE PRICE OF INDEPENDENCE

But even under such conditions as those described, the farmer and his family were not wholly independent. Even Robinson Crusoe on his lonely island was dependent upon the tools and equipment that he saved from s.h.i.+pwrecks, and that were the product of other men's labor. So, also, the pioneer farmer had to maintain some kind of relation, however infrequent and slight, with the outside world.

Moreover, he had to pay for his comparative independence by many privations. He had all the wants described in the preceding chapter, but he had to provide for them in the simplest way possible, and often they were hardly provided for at all.

THE GROWTH OF INTERDEPENDENCE

As soon as a number of people come to live together, even in a pioneer community, it is likely that some members will have a knack for doing certain things of use to the community better than others can do them. Thus one man may be especially skillful in making axe handles. In time, the entire community comes to depend upon him for its axe handles. In addition, he probably makes other tools and does repair work of all kinds. This requires so much of his time that he does little or no farming, and depends upon others for his food supply. So in a course of time the community has its blacksmiths, carpenters, shoe-makers, teachers, storekeepers and doctors upon whom it depends for their special kinds of service, while each of them depends upon others to supply the wants that he has neither the time nor the skill to supply for himself. Thus interdependence develops in the simplest communities.

THE DEPENDENCE ON OTHERS OF THE MODERN FARMER

The farmer still does many things on the farm that in the city would be done by special workers, such as repairing houses, barns, and tools. But he has become vastly more dependent upon others than formerly. This is due partly to improved farming methods, requiring the use of complicated machines and greater technical knowledge; and partly to improved means of transportation and communication which bring him in close touch with trade centers.

If a farmer needs a new axe handle, he can get a better one with less expenditure of time and effort by going to town in his automobile than if he made it himself. His farm machinery is too complicated for him to repair except in small matters, and even then he must go or send to town for the necessary parts, which may be sent to him by parcel post. Not only does he get better tools and services generally through this reliance upon others who are specialists in their lines, but also on account of it has more time to give to the actual business of farming, for which others depend upon him, and leisure for thoughtful study of his problems, for social life, and for recreation.

THE VALUE OF SELF-RELIANCE

It must be acknowledged that reliance upon others may be carried so far as to result in loss or disadvantage. "Self-reliance" is one of the most admirable traits of character. The pioneer farmer possessed it from necessity to a remarkable extent. A habit of depending upon others may quickly cause a person to lose the "knack" of doing things for himself, to become less "handy about the place," and less "thrifty" about keeping things in repair or installing small improvements--the casting of a cement trough, mending the harness or the fence or painting the barn.

WHO MAKES OUR SHOES

The interdependence of people in community life to-day may be ill.u.s.trated by starting with some of our own needs, as was suggested in the topics on page 12. For example, if we need a pair of shoes, we must have money, which we will suppose that we earn by farming. In order to farm successfully we must have machinery.

This we also buy in town; but it is manufactured for us in distant city factories from metals procured from mines and from wood from the forest. The shoes bought at the store were also made in a factory employing hundreds of men and women, perhaps in Ma.s.sachusetts. They were made from leather from the hides of cattle raised in the far west, or perhaps even in the Argentine Republic. The leather is tanned by another industry, and tanning requires the use of an acid from the bark of certain trees from the forest. The making of the shoes also requires machinery which is made by still other machines, the necessary metals coming from mines. To smelt the metals and to run the factories there must be fuel from other mines. Meanwhile the workers in all these industries must be fed and clothed and housed. This means the work of farmers, food packers, millers and bakers, lumbermen, carpenters, cotton and woolen mills, clothing factories, and many others. At every stage transportation enters in,--by team and automobile truck, by railway, by water. These are only a part of the activities necessary in order that we may have a pair of shoes. It would seem that practically every kind of worker and industry in the world had something to do with it. People in communities today are indeed very interdependent.

The following item appeared in a newspaper:

HELD BACK BY NEIGHBORS

Farmer Is Limited by Conditions in Community

The average farmer is limited in the changes he can make in his farm business by the farm practices of the community in which he is living.

There are farmers in every community who would like to change their systems of agriculture but are restrained from doing so by the fact that their neighbors will not change. Many farmers have tried to change from one type of farming to another better suited to the region, but failed because the cost of running such an entirely independent business was too great.