tions have proved true to their original purpose to promote democratic organization, to study and try to meet the needs of the community. Their activities, therefore, if they are true to this purpose, must rest upon actual conditions in the community. Dominating each of these activities, however, there must be the purpose to provide the opportunity to the people of the community to solve their own problems.

Moreover, the answer to what activities they shall undertake must be dominated by the principles that their activities are to provide a wider basis for the coordination of all the agencies of the community, on the theory that only as people know about the needs of the community and what is already being done can they work together. It is clearly recognized by these newer movements in community organization that duplication of effort is socially sinful. Those activities only should be undertaken which supplement those of other agencies already in existence. Consequently the tendency has been increasingly to find out what community needs are not being met and to organize such activities as will meet these needs. In doing this it is recognized that cooperation with already existing agencies is absolutely necessary. They can furnish from their longer experience many helpful suggestions. They will also be found most anxious to see needs not met by their organizations met by some others. Therefore the activities of any given community will depend very much upon a close study of the needs of that community and the activities already in existence. How shall they be supported? In this early period of community centers various experiments in support were tried. Perhaps this period of experiment is not yet closed. At any rate two general lines of support are clearly visible. They may be supported either out of public taxes or entirely by private subscriptions. In actual practice, while the public funds may furnish part of the financial support, usually private support is depended upon for a great deal of the funds. Occasionally other private organizations also are enlisted to provide some of the finances. In the Middle West community centers have been connected closely with the schools, and in some of the states, as in Wisconsin, legal provision has been made for support by tax. In some of the other states, where they are connected with the public schools, the school board may furnish a part of the funds. For example, in Chicago and in La Salle, Illinois, the salaries of the directors are paid by the public school boards. Nevertheless a large part of the expenses of carrying on the center in these two places is raised from fees paid by those who participate in the activities. In some other places private organizations of one kind or another have undertaken their support or have been organized to furnish financial support. The Bowling Green organization in New York City was organized to carry on the activities needed in a small section in the lower part of the island in which live very poor people. Wall Street, near by, furnished the funds through the organization. In certain cases in the rural districts a private organization has to be established in order to provide whatever funds may be necessary to carry out the purposes of the organization.

How shall the work be made more definite and the results more tangible? Whenever any movement has gone on for some time, thoughtful people interested in it find it necessary to study the results. The community centers have come to this stage of their history. Within the last year a study of these associations has been made through the cooperation of Harvard University, the bureau of education at Washington, and the National Community Center Association. Doubtless self-criticism of the movement will come from this study, which will bring about greater definiteness in the aims and stimulate the effort to secure more lasting results. Moreover, through the National Conference of Community Centers and the discussions resulting from the coming together of people interested in community organization the same objects of definiteness and tangibility are being secured. To these two methods should be added a third. In the colleges, universities, and training schools for social work it has been found necessary to study this movement and others like it, to glean from the experience of the past certain principles of community organization. Books are being written at the present time on the subject which will attempt to get out of the experience of the past certain principles and methods which have been proved by the test of time.

How handle the increasing cost? In spite of the setback that came after the first burst of enthusiasm for community organization recently the number of such organizations has been steadily increasing. In 1924 there were fifteen centers in Chicago which received an appropriation of from three to eight hundred dollars a year. An interested group of people urged that fifteen more should be organized immediately in Chicago. They recommended that a director of community centers should be appointed in the office of the superintendent of schools, and suggested a budget of $80,000 to be paid out of the school funds for the promotion of these activities. The reports seem to indicate that there is increasing demand for the features provided in these centers. In New York the board of education runs between two and three hundred in the schools of that city, beside a considerable number carried on by private organizations.

There is no question that with the increased demand for these neighborhood organizations money must be found in some way to support them. In Chicago, so attractive did the community center prove to be that an increasing share of the cost in 1923 was borne by the participants themselves, so that the cost per center to the public decreased from $1,300 per center in 1918 to $1,285 in 1922 and $1,183 in 1923. In other places considerable amounts have been appropriated. In 1921 Milwaukee spent $11,193, Washington $35,000, New Bedford, $23,000, and Bayonne, New Jersey, $32,000.1

It is apparent that with the growth of these organizations money must be found to carry them. Two methods are being experimented with at the present time: first, support of the directing officials by public school funds or by special

1 The Community Center, Vol. VI, No. 1, pp. 8–9.

funds raised by private organizations; second, payment by those engaging in the activities through fees.

Economic aspects of the community and their relation to the nature and extent of activities in community centers. Twenty-five years of work with community centers have shown that frequently the poorest parts of the cities and the poorest rural communities are those which have the greatest needs of democratic community organization, but that these sections can least afford to support them. Where the people of a community are in an economic class of sufficient wealth or income to enable them to support their own organizations, the problem is limited to initiative and leadership. These problems are important, and the lack of initiative and leadership often prevents the development of community organizations which would greatly enrich the democratic life. What can be done, however, in a rural community where they can hardly support a school? Here undoubtedly the number of activities must be limited to those which can be carried on, on a volunteer basis, unless leadership can be attracted from other communities and neighborhoods. Furthermore, it seems probable, from some experiments that have occurred, that in such communities the activities most promising are those which concern themselves with economic problems. Perhaps the thing most needed in such a place is that organization of the people to consider their financial affairs and to organize for promotion of economic welfare. Since economic welfare underlies efforts for social welfare, this would seem to be the common-sense thing to do.

However, wherever economic conditions are bad, social life will be povertystricken and moral problems will appear which are the result of the minimum of social and recreational activities.

The same thing is true of the poorer sections of large cities. There vice flourishes, children are neglected, education is likely to be poor, sanitary conditions usually are bad, housing conditions make for social disintegration, the family is imperiled, and the people usually are not conscious of their political power. Here the settlements give us suggestions as to procedure. If the money can be found to provide a center where discussion can take place through the public schools or some other meeting place, and leadership can be discovered and enlisted, much can be done to awaken the people in such communities to a sense of their power and discontent with the conditions. Money and leadership, however, in both cases, must be found for the minimum number of activities.

The settlements have shown that with proper leadership the money necessary can be obtained. Nothing could have been more discouraging than the section in which the Chicago Commons was founded, or that portion of the city of Chicago in which Jane Addams established Hull House, or the section in Boston in which Professor Tucker and Robert A. Woods established the South End House. Graham Taylor, Jane Addams, and Robert A. Woods furnished the inspiring leadership, in these three localities, which got the money necessary.

Attempts at the solution of these problems have also been made by certain

I

of our community centers. The Bowling Green Community Association, in the lower part of New York, gave a demonstration of how the matter could be solved. Ten years ago, in this section of New York City near Wall Street, there lived between five and seven thousand persons engaged as cleaners, janitors, office boys, and helpers in the buildings of that business area. The physical conditions of that neighborhood were as bad as they could be. The inhabitants were among the most poorly paid people in the city. No situation could seem more helpless. The men's group of Trinity Church formed the nucleus of an organization which attacked the problem. These business and professional men, together with representatives of the social agencies in the community, started the Neighborhood Association and provided the funds for a secretary. The business men in Wall Street formed the contributors, and representatives from the neighborhood and from the social service agencies looked after the activities of the Association. The result has been a live community organization which has promoted the discussion of common problems, has devised measures to meet the needs found there, until today the Association has a staff of fourteen persons and a yearly budget in the neighborhood of forty thousand dollars. Twenty-one groups are active in this center; an infant welfare station has been established, with the result that while the death-rate for the entire city declined, from 1910 to 1924, 3 per cent, that of the Bowling Green district declined 14 per cent. Twenty-five hundred tenement house inspections were made. Through this Neighborhood Association various agencies in the community have coordinated their work, and a great change has been wrought in the social life of the district.1 In a community like La Salle, Illinois, the whole matter has been handled through the public schools, due to the efforts of a live superintendent.

Still another aspect appears. Can economic problems of different classes be the subject of discussion and action? Had the secretary at Bowling Green proposed to discuss the wages paid charwomen, office boys, etc., would the economic support of Wall Street have continued? Or if the clubs and classes had devoted themselves to a discussion of the business practices of Wall Street could this organization have functioned? On the other hand, if the activities in the public schools of La Salle, Illinois, proposed to discuss some of the political practices of the community, what would have happened to the program of supporting the project out of the school funds? These questions are only suggested to indicate that probably the movement has not gone far enough yet to provide absolutely free discussion on any question without hazarding the prospects of the venture.

That limitation, however, does not affect the discussion of interests that are common to humanity. Where economic and other interests clash, doubtless a truce must be called if the community center is not to be wrecked. Moreover, where the economic interests of different classes clash, either there must be

* Bowman, "Some Difficulties in Democratic Neighborhood Organization as Illustrated in Bowling Green, New York City," Journal of Social Forces, March, 1925, pp. 473–76.

such a truce on these questions, or the organization becomes dominated by one or the other class. On the other hand, where economic interests are unified, then economic activities such as cooperative buying and marketing may be promoted by the organization. There are plenty of community needs, however, which can be handled without danger, which are of vital importance to the welfare of the people. In the field of social morals, aside from some of these disputed questions, education, sanitation, health, housing, recreation, and such like are deeply enough grounded in the mores of both rich and poor, employer and employee, to command quite universal consent. In such cases rich and poor may be organized together for the welfare of the whole community. Up to the present it is such problems which have engaged the thought and effort of community organizations.

It must be recognized if this movement is to survive and be of value that all such activities cost money. If support is to be had from either private or public funds, the activities must be such as are considered, by a majority of the people, worth while. There must be inspired leadership, which usually costs money. There must be trained leadership, which again is dependent upon salaries if the best work is to be done. Needs recognized widely must be chosen, and those over which there is division of opinion for the present must be put on one side. Furthermore, if the people of the community are not to be pauperized and not patronized, much of the support must come from those benefited.

It is clear, then, that the economic situation in a community affects the number of activities and the kind of activities undertaken. It is also clear that division of opinion on economic problems limits the work of a community center. Within the limitation set by these conditions, however, lies a great field of social welfare in which the impulse to democratic expression of opinion and democratic intercourse may be exercised with excellent results. Here, in my judgment, lies the field of the community center. In all conscience the field is large enough without attempting a labor of Hercules on problems which are of vital interest but yet are in process of discussion. Train the people to express themselves on any matter whatsoever, to sense their needs, to discover their power, to chasten their impulses in the light of facts, to labor together for a common end, and great progress has been made in preparing them for the solution of more difficult and less settled problems.

THE GROUP APPROACH

Thomas L. Cotton, International Community Center, Inc., New York Among the various convictions which the experts and laity have regarding the incorporation of immigrants into the civilization of the United States, two opposing theories may be isolated. For purposes of convenience these theories may be labeled: first, the individualistic theory, according to which the indi