Cornell University Library 
 HT 421.H41 
 
 Some factors In town and country relatio 
 
 3 1924 013 900 232 
 
 soig pjo^ilBO 
 
Research Bulletin 
 
 September, 1922 
 
 Some Factors in 
 Town and Country Relationships 
 
 AUGUSTUS W. HAYES 
 Asisistaiit Professor of Sociology 
 
 One of several thousand places where farmers trade and seek stimulating social 
 contacts. The extremely important question naturally arises as to whether these 
 farmer patrons are served in accordance with the most fundamental socio- 
 economic interests of both town and country. 
 
 TULANE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA 
 Department of Sociology 
 
 AND 
 
 The United States Department of Agriculture 
 
 CO-OPERATING 
 
 New Orleans, Louisiana 
 
FOREWORD. 
 
 The relations of the small retail cities and towns with the 
 countryside have long been a matter of considerable concern. 
 That there is much to be desired in the form of co-operation 
 and mutual understanding between these two groups of our 
 population is very evident on all sides. Careful social analyses 
 of the underlying currents operating between town and coun- 
 try are the first steps toward reaching a solution of the prob- 
 lems involved. 
 
 Dr. Hayes has been successful in bringing to our atten- 
 tion a fresh field of investigation that is of fundamental sig- 
 nificance to the whole question of rural and urban relationships. 
 He sees the retail merchant in a more comprehensive manner 
 than that of a mere dispenser of goods; a subtle social charge 
 is also placed upon his shoulders. We have passed the days 
 of selfish individualism in the farmers' town, the same as we 
 have left the individualistic farmer a relic of yesterday. In 
 fact, all of the institutions and organizations which permeate 
 town life will not be permitted in the future to live unto them- 
 selves 'alone, but they must, for their own welfare, as well as 
 for that of their center and its supporting land base, enroll 
 and enlist farmer members- and farmer interest in a propor- 
 tion consistent with the importance of the rural element. 
 
 The fertile suggestion developed in this study of re-plan- 
 ning trade and social center locations, so farmers have the 
 grade they need for their advancement and growth, is very 
 unique. Social control measures will operate to eliminate 
 many of our ineffective, low grade centers and institutions, 
 when once they are given intelligent freedom and direction. 
 We need clearer thinking on many matters of this kind, and 
 this study will, without doubt, help to awaken and direct new 
 energy in solving the numerous perplexing problems arising 
 out of town and countrj- relations. 
 
 A. B. DlNWlDDIE, 
 
 President, of Tnlano University of Louisiana. 
 
Some Factors in Town and Country Relationships 
 
 Augustus W. Hayes.* 
 Assistant Professor of Bociology. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 There is rapidly developing in this country a new sense of 
 obligation and of relationship between small urban and village 
 population groups on the one hand, and open country popula- 
 tion groups on the other hand. In some sections these obli- 
 gations and relationships may mean one sort of treatment, 
 and in other sections quite a different sort of treatment. 
 Taken as a v^hole, however, study and observation reveal the 
 fact that there is a common problem confronting these groups 
 almost everywhere, and that this problem is amenable to an- 
 alysis and understanding; these, at least, are the first steps to- 
 ward its solution. 
 
 It was with such a conception in mind that this study was 
 undertaken. It involves the analysis of the social and eco- 
 nomic relations of town and farm population groups in seven 
 rather representative centers in Rapides, Allen and St. Tam- 
 many Parishes, Louisiana. Alexandria, Oakdale, Cheneyville, 
 Covington, Polsom, Talisheek, and Waldheim, together with 
 their respective rural trade areas, have been studied carefully, 
 and an endeavor has been made in each case to discover how 
 far the agencies of service and of trade extended from the town 
 centers into the surrounding rural territory, and to what extent 
 the farm population availed itself of the facilities of social 
 and economic improvement involving the people and institu- 
 tions of their trade center. 
 
 These trading centers admit of almost successive grada- 
 tion from the cross-roads store type up to the small city of 
 20,000 inhabitants. It has been discovered in the study that 
 the character or grade of trading center offered a given rural 
 
 * Co-operation was with the Division of Farm Population and Rural 
 Life in the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of the United States De- 
 partment of Agriculture. This study was made possible by the helpful 
 counsel and advice of Dr. C. J. Galpin, Economist in Charge, Farm Popu- 
 lation and Rural Life. 
 
group has figured largely in helping shape standards of living 
 for the country people, as well as for the town people. Dress, 
 personal taste, home furnishings, and even the quality and 
 variety of food served and eaten in the home are factors ever 
 changing from group to group according to the ideals gained, 
 quite largely, through trade and contact at the trade center. 
 The grade and character of trade institutions maintained at 
 the center exercise considerable influence, therefore, in help- 
 ing mould and shape the standards of living people adopt. If 
 a policy exists among tradesmen that country people can be 
 made satisfied with more inferior commodities than town 
 people will have, these tradesmen stand in the way of helping 
 bring together standards of living between town and country. 
 Co-operation and mutual understanding arise more quickly and 
 live longer among people of like standards. 
 
 The greater the number of outstanding differences that are 
 fostered between town and country which tend to hold the two 
 classes aloof from each other, the more difficult becomes the 
 problem of developing advantageous relationships. 
 
 The rural population groups covered in this study are 
 confined to the commonly recognized trade basin of the 
 several centers. These rural groups range in total number of 
 inhabitants from 200 people, who live within a radius of one 
 and one-half miles to five miles around the cross-roads store 
 at Waldheim, up to about 15,000 people, who live within a 
 radius of ten miles to twenty-two miles around the small city 
 of Alexandria. 
 
 Outlining the trade basins of each center was taken as 
 the first task ; church zones, high school zones, library zones, 
 hospital and newspaper ai'eas were also determined and 
 studied. Only those maps of such zones and areas will be 
 given in the bulletin which illustrate striking differences at- 
 tributable to size and grade of trading center. The character 
 of the farmer patronage at the business houses, in the lodges, 
 churches, schools and clubs was learned from properly in-, 
 formed authorities. The statements of facts relating to eco- 
 nomic resources, settlement, population and development of the 
 areas were obtained, in the main, from reliable printed reports. 
 
 It should be stated at the outset that no attempt has been 
 made to unduly emphasize any side of the questions involved, 
 
 4 
 
or to make facts conform to any preconceived theories. Pains- 
 taking search has been made for all the information that would 
 in any way help reveal actual situations and hidden truths. 
 No thought of finality has been entertained regarding the 
 main issues involved ; the author well realizes that many studies 
 and much ,analysis must be made in various parts of the 
 country before we can arrive at specific and definite recom- 
 mendations. We . need everywhere a systematic stock-taking 
 and elaboration of the many social and economic problems 
 growing out of the relations of town and country people. It 
 is only by such careful and intensive studies that we can hope 
 to arrive at the correct basis for the adjustment of the perplex- 
 ing questions arising intermittently between farm groups and 
 town groups. Many of the petty jealousies, animosities and 
 misunderstandings that are found to exist from time to time 
 and from place to place will fade away with more light for 
 both sides, and with a correct and fundamental understanding 
 of each others' obligations, relationships, rights and duties. 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF STUDY. 
 
 The importance of a concerted effort to arrive at a basis 
 for better town and country relations becomes very evident 
 to any one who glances at a map of the South and sees that 
 the mass of its population is plainly concerned. The South is 
 pre-eminently a section of open country stretches, of hamlets, 
 villages, towns and small cities. Great mercantile and manu- 
 facturing centers are few and widely separated. The bulk of, 
 its people are directly concerned with the social and economic 
 relations maintained and fostered between retail trading cen- 
 ters and the open country. 
 
 Even for the United States as a whole, the question is of 
 only slightly less importance. Dr. C. J. Galpin of the Bureau 
 of Agricultural Economics, United States Department of Agri- 
 culture, states : ^ " Subtract from the total population of the na- 
 tion, the inhabitants of our metropolitan and major and minor 
 cities, and there will be left two-thirds of our national popula- 
 
 ] A paper read before the community center section of the School 
 Superintendents' Confeience of the National Education Association, 
 February 26, 1920, at Cleveland, Ohio. 
 
tioii, of whom, broadly speaking, one-half reside in retailing 
 towns and villages and the other half reside in the country 
 adjacent to these towns and villages. That is, one-third of 
 our population is a farm population, and one-third is a city 
 population. The farmer third and the town third, moreover, 
 are amalgamated more or less, living side by side in these little 
 amalgam democracies, which we have referred to as trade 
 area communities. It is with two-thirds, of our national 
 census, therefore, that we are dealing, and especially with 
 the nature of the social amalgam of the town and country local 
 democracy. If the amalgam of the farmer and townsman 
 within the trade area were as complete as the amalgam of the 
 tradesmen, artisans, laborers and professional men and their 
 families within the town itself, there would be little need for 
 this discussion today." 
 
 SOME FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS. 
 
 It may prove profitable to review briefly some of the 
 primary functions of towns and townsmen, and of farms and 
 farmers. The town (the common type of town in the South) 
 owes its existence to the continued cultivation and develop- 
 ment of the surrounding agricultural areas. It is, therefore, 
 in its first inception a service station to the farmer. The 
 latter is a producer of raw products from the soil; producing 
 in mass and much beyond his needs for home consumption. 
 He must, therefore, have a market close at hand for sales and 
 exchange, for placing his goods in the world's channels of 
 trade, and for obtaining in return the things he needs of the 
 world's commerce, manufacture and trade. In its primary 
 position the town is a service station for the assembling of 
 goods flowing both ways, to the farm and from the farm ; the 
 tradesman facilitates this process. 
 
 "With modern day development we find the functions of 
 the tradesman increased and enlarged, and those of the town 
 more and more developed. Today the farmer relies upon 
 the townsman to connect him with the best the world offers 
 and bring him in touch with the advancements of society. 
 The farmer expects of the townsman that he will be a dynamic 
 service-rendering-agent; and has thrust upon him, more and 
 
 6 
 
more, the importaBt duty of assisting him, at least, in keeping 
 abreast of the times. Country people have come to rely upon 
 the merchant in general, as well as upon the professional man, 
 to render them a subtle social service in the same manner as 
 the commonly accepted economic service of satisfying some 
 of the purely material wants. 
 
 This study has shown that the position of a tradesman, in 
 the agricultural trading center at least, is one of a more 
 or less skilled nature (in its true conception) and that the 
 business man, along with the professional man, is not a proper 
 public servant until he thoroughly understands his full duty 
 to his customers and to his community, which exists quite 
 aside from the mere dispensing of goods. His is not an 
 entirelj' selfish, mercenary occupation in which he seeks the 
 greatest pecuniary gain for himself, regardless of the ultimate 
 social values distributed. With every set of harness, pair 
 of shoes, sack of flour, or bolt of cloth, there must go service ; 
 adaptability of the article to the needs of the purchaser, an 
 honest, conscientious endeavor to give the patron a high social 
 margin as well as a high economic margin. Low grade arti- 
 cles, low grade merchants and low grade purchasers generally 
 go together. Low grade merchants do very little to raise the 
 standards of their patrons ; low grade articles seldom give sat- 
 isfaction, they breed discontent, a grouch between buyer and 
 seller, distrust between farmer and townsman. 
 
 The time and the conditions may soon be at hand when 
 society will recognize a fundamental relation between the mer- 
 chant and his community for at least some of the general satis- 
 factions and standards of living, and it may place very definite 
 requirements of a social and an ethical nature around the whole 
 of the business interests. 
 
 Professionalizing the professions has gone on steadily, 
 and much to the benefit of society. Professor Ross says ■} 
 "The natural effect of fencing the field and attracting into it 
 superior men is the growth of the professional spirit * * *. 
 In a true profession the pursuit of gain is subordinated to the 
 aim of service. * * * the practitioner will be loyal to the 
 
 2 Edward Alsworth Boss, The Principles of Sociology, p. 474. (New 
 York: The Macmillan Company, 1920.) 
 
interests of his patrons even to the extent of opposing the 
 patron's wishes. He will quit a ease rather than render 
 what he knows to be a disservice rather than a service." There 
 is no good reason why a movement of a comparable nature 
 should not take hold of all business and raise it to a higher 
 plane for the social welfare. 
 
 The town's merchants are pivotal in almost all respects 
 of town and country relations. All farmers come under 
 their influence in one way or another. The attitude many 
 a farmer carries toward his town center is that formed through 
 the treatment, the kind of services rendered, the values re- 
 ceived in contact with the merchant. When we consider that 
 85% to 95% of the total trade over the counters, in the pro- 
 fessional offices and in the shops, and about 30% to 60% 
 of the social, educational and religious features of the agricul- 
 tural town are engaged in by the farmers, we begin to realize 
 and appreciate the significance of the kind of treatment the one 
 group accords the other. 
 
 Harlan Paul Douglass in his refreshing book entitled, ' ' The 
 Little Town, ' ' saj^s :^ ' ' The little town is the primary trade 
 center. The town's country is the area which trades with 
 it; which makes common cause with it in buying and selling, 
 in credit and transportation facilities. Its tj'pical function- 
 aires are the retail merchant, the middleman — who takes the 
 farmer's produce and turns it over to the city for consumption 
 — the banker, the postmaster and the railway and express 
 agents. The town's country is the area which comes to it for 
 play, education and worship. Here are the country's moving 
 pictures, its baseball diamonds, and its Chautauquas. The lit- 
 tle town is the farmer's school of fashion and of social pro- 
 priety. The more radically the little town adopts the inde- 
 pendent point of view the more adequately may it return 
 later to a comprehension of its chief task ; namely, the service 
 of the open country on which it depends. After all this is its 
 largest task. The material (and social) fortunes of the little 
 town and open country are identical; their achievements should 
 be common. To fulfill its reasonable service the little town 
 must appreciate and love the country. ' ' 
 
 3 Harlan Paul Douglass, The Little Town, pp. 10, 53 and 54. (New 
 York: The Macmillan Company, 1919.) 
 
ALEXANDRIA AND ITS RURAL RELATIONS. 
 
 Alexandria is a city of 20,000 population, according to 
 statements of its Chamber of Commerce. It is the parish seat 
 of Rapides Parish, and is located 193 miles northwest of New 
 Orleans on the Red River and the following railroads : Missouri 
 Pacific, Louisiana Railway and Navigation Company, Louisiana 
 and Arkansas Railway, Chicago and Rock Island, Alexandria 
 and Western, Southern Pacific and Texas and Pacific. 
 
 Many important commercial and industrial interests cen- 
 ter in and around Alexandria, which find their livelihood in 
 the following commodities: cotton, cottonseed oil and cake, 
 sugar, molasses, lumber, iron foundry products, talcum powder, 
 candy, boat bars and handles, mattresses, corn, rice, potatoes, 
 and general vegetable crops. Meats and fruits are produced on 
 the farms and marketed extensively in and through the city. 
 The parish agricultural agent stated that, roughly, the farms 
 within the trade area of Alexandria yearly marketed in and 
 through the agencies of the city, 6,000 bales of cotton, averag- 
 ing in value, about $720,000; $10,000 worth each of cattle,- 
 hogs, hay and vegetables; $100,000 worth of Irish potatoes; 
 $5,000 worth of poultry and eggs, and considerable sugar cane. 
 
 The Chamber of Commerce reports that there are 150 saw- 
 mills within a hundred-mile radius of Alexandria, cutting mil- 
 lions of feet of lumber daily. Ten of these mills are operating 
 within the city limits. Thirty industrial plants are also lo- 
 cated within the city. A preliminary statement of the general 
 results of the 1920 census of manufactures, covering tihe 
 year 1919, as issued by the Bureau of the Census, Department 
 of Commerce, shows that there are 863 persons engaged in 
 manufactures in Alexandria. The value of products is 
 given as $4,350,000; the value added by manufacture as $1,- 
 317,000. These plants with their labor and financial at- 
 tractions are a constant challenge to the farms of the area 
 to offer as good opportunities or fall behind in the race. 
 Alexandria, through its business growth and development, is 
 able to absort the surplus population from the surrounding 
 small towns and the farms. This, without a doubt, is an 
 asset to the entire community. Alexandria has four banks. 
 
having total resources of $11,800,000 and total deposits of 
 $10,300,000. The city lies in the center of the hard and im- 
 proved road development of the parish. It is easily reached 
 from most points of its land base by main lines of improved 
 and surfaced roads. The building and extension of these 
 roads has been constantly urged and supported by the citizens 
 of Alexandria, v?ho look upon them as an invaluable asset and 
 a very great necessity for bringing town and country closer 
 together. Farmers themselves support the good roads move- 
 ment as a solution of their transportation-to-market problem. 
 Both town and country clearly recognize the social value of 
 the improved roads. The city contains about fifty-five miles 
 of streets, of which twenty miles are surfaced. It has good 
 sewerage, electric light and water systems. 
 
 Alexandria has provided very good educational advantages 
 for its people, containing the following schools: 
 
 Private Schools: 
 
 Baptist Hospital School for Nurses. 
 
 Draughon's Business College. 
 
 Lampton College (Negro.) 
 
 Roman Catholic Parochial. 
 
 Providence Academy. 
 
 St. Francis Xavier Academy. 
 
 St. Francis Xavier Commercial School. 
 
 St. James Convent. 
 
 St. James Parochial School. 
 
 Louisiana College (Baptist.) 
 
 Public Schools. 
 
 The public school district includes Alexandria city and 
 about five square miles around it. There are one high school 
 and three graded schools for white children, and no high school 
 and two graded schools for negroes. There is a public library 
 of about 5,000 volumes; service of this institution is limited to 
 whites. The books circulate outside the city very little. The 
 farm children in the immediate school district i^e them most, 
 because of reference to them in their public school work. The. 
 adult farmer and his wife rarely use the library, and they 
 receive little encouragement to do so. 
 
A survey of the city made by Allen D. "White in April, 
 1921, has the following report relative to recreation: "Mock- 
 ing Bird Park of 4 acres ; Ralph iSmith Park of 4 acres ; City 
 Park of 35 acres, containing a natatorium, auditorium, ball 
 park, field and track, also fine trees. Location of the park 
 somewhat distant for non-auto owners. The auditorium is 
 nicely designed, but out-of-repair, and badly in need of paint. 
 This enormously valuable city possession needs leadership, 
 primarily for program of events, teaching of groups, organizing 
 of leagues, romper day, friend-making picnics and the like."- 
 
 Along the line of recreational facilities afforded by the 
 city the above named survey further states that there are : 
 "Nine pool rooms for whites, and one for colored; one play 
 ground with fair equipment damaged by boys ; one commercial 
 dance hall ; no play-leaders ; a boy scout organization with an 
 enrollment of 300, and a 40-acre camp near Long Leaf (about 
 30 miles from the city), down to the minute in scheme and 
 organization ; Country Club ; Golf courses ; pleasant dance and 
 other parties ; Rapides Club, a general metropolitan club ; 
 Masonic building ; Elks Club ; and Moose quarters. 
 
 "Under hospitals, there is a Baptist hospital; the Louisi- 
 ana Hospital for Insane ; Louisiana Rescue Home ; Public 
 Health Isolation Hospital; and St. Joseph's Home. 
 "The survey gives the following churches: 
 
 Roman Catholic. 
 
 Baptist, 3 for whites, 11 for colored. 
 
 Methodist, 2 for whites, 4 for colored. 
 
 Christian Science, 1. 
 
 Hebrew, 2. 
 
 Disciples of Christ, 1. 
 
 Lutheran, 1. 
 
 Episcopalian, 2. 
 
 Presbj'terian, 1. 
 Also: 
 
 Y. M. C. A., none. 
 
 Y. W. C. A., none. 
 
 K. of C. (rooms.) 
 
 W. of W. (rooms.) 
 
 K. of P., U. C. T., T. P. A. 
 
Community Club, 1 ; quarters excellently used but 
 
 ill adapted for such. use. 
 
 "Investment in church property manifestly large. One 
 building beautifully furnished, and available for extensive so- 
 cial program.'' 
 
 The Court House is well located in Alexandria, and serves 
 as a convenient place for farmer meetings, as headquarters for 
 the Demonstration Agents, County_ Superintendent of Schools, 
 and other town and country offices. 
 
 A finely built and furnished million dollar hotel is located 
 on the public square, and is a great attraction for all conven- 
 tion purposes. It is used on such occasions by farmers as well 
 as by other people. 
 
 On the whole, Alexandria is one of the most modern and 
 up-to-date small cities in the country. It has all grades of 
 retail stores, ranging from a good supply of the small, cheap, 
 general stores, up to complete, first-class, large department 
 stores. The services which the various stores and business 
 houses render the farmer public will be discussed later in this 
 report. 
 
 Trade Area and Its Description. — In general, the immedi- 
 ate retail trade area of Alexandria extends 17 miles to the 
 west, 22 miles to the south, 20 miles to the east, and 8 miles 
 to 10 miles to the north. It embraces the greater part of 
 Rapides Parish and small parts of the adjoining parishes on 
 the east and the north. A description of Rapides Parish and 
 of its agriculture will, therefore, fit very well for the trade 
 area of Alexandria. 
 
 The soil survey report of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, made 
 in 1918 by E. H. Smies, et. al., states as follows concerning 
 the agriculture and general farm conditions: "The Parish 
 comprises an area of 1,353 square miles, or 865,920 acres. The 
 topography of the uplands varies from level and undulating 
 to gently rolling and rolling. Undulating to level land, flat 
 except for occasional dome shaped mounds, is quite well dis- 
 tributed throughout the parish, increasing in extent toward 
 the south. The elevation above sea level at the Union Rail- 
 road Station at Alexandria in the Red River bottoms is 77 
 
feet. The highest part of the uplands lies probably not more 
 than 75 to 150 feet above this elevation. 
 
 "The Red River has been leveed, and farming in the bot- 
 tom lands of this stream is carried on safely, although there 
 are some low, swampy areas which are inundated under present 
 conditions, and thus rendered uncultivable. " 
 
 The total population of Rapides Parish in 1910 according 
 to the census is 33,332. (It is now estimated to be about 
 42,000.) "Three-fourths of the population is classed as rural, 
 but this includes several thousand persons living in the small 
 towns outside of Alexandria. About two-thirds of the rural 
 population consists of white persons.'' The present county 
 agricultural agent states that there are 3600 separate farms in 
 Rapides Parish, and that the families on the farms average 
 five persons in number. In the valley country he says 65% 
 of the population is colored, and 35% white, while in the up- 
 land regions, 90% of the population is white, and 10% colored. 
 "Most of the whites are descendants of the early settlers; 
 some are of French extraction. In recent years Bohemians, 
 Hollanders and Belgians have settled in the Red River bottoms 
 and about Libuse (in the uplands). 
 
 "Farming early became the principal interest of the set- 
 tlers in Rapides Parish. The principal crops now grown on 
 the uplands are cotton as the money crop, and corn for use 
 on the farm. Most farmers grow small patches of sugar cane 
 for syrup, chiefly for home use. Oats, cowpeas, sweet potaloes, 
 and velvet beans are among the minor crops, grown mainlj 
 for use on the farm. There are a few peach and pecan trees, 
 and in the vicinity of Libuse; some strawberries are grown for 
 market. 
 
 "A good many farmers raise some beef cattle, chiefly 
 by pasturing them on the open range, including the stream 
 bottoms, flogs are raised on the open range, and some are 
 sold. 
 
 "In the up-lands, cotton yields about one-fourth to one- 
 third of a bale per acre. In the Red River bottoms the yield 
 is one-half to three-fourths of a bale per acre. Corn and oat 
 yields are light in the uplands, but fair to good in the bottoms." 
 
 The density of the rural population is found to vary to 
 wide extremes throughout the trade area. The Red River 
 
valley and adjacent bayou lands are very closely settled, where 
 proper drainage has been provided; the sandy, piney woods 
 land, on the other hand, is very sparsely settled in most of 
 the area, and road conditions through it are poor. 
 
 The fertile Red River valley lands extend northwest and 
 southeast through the trade area. Alexandria, being located 
 near the center of this long narrow belt of good soil, gets a 
 large amount of its farm production. Improved highways and 
 railways extend up and down the valley. 
 
 Trade Relationships. — A careful survey was made of most 
 of the retail stores of the city, and inquiries were also cast 
 among the farmers in order to find out the character and the 
 conditions of the trade between city and country. 
 
 Many merchants complained that farmers were unduly 
 patronizing distant mail-order houses, and that this practice 
 harmfully lessened the farmers' moral and financial interest 
 in the support and development of the institutions of the local- 
 ity. There seem to be two sides to the problem, and probably 
 complaints well justified for both farmer and store man. 
 Greedy merchants who try to exact a too large profit in sales, 
 and who are non-aggressive in advertising and trying to get 
 what the buying public wants, are quite responsible, generally, 
 for starting customers toward the mail-order house. Farmers, 
 on the other hand, are often too thoughtless of the great value 
 which comes in developing the home institutions; of the con- 
 stant service these usually stand ready to give them; and 
 of the fact that when time consumed in transit, cost of freight, 
 and losses due to damage are all added to the prices of their 
 mail-order goods, they will be getting them, quality for quality, 
 no cheaper in many instances than they can get them of the 
 local merchant. Be that as it may, the fact that the mail- 
 order business is giving trouble to the local merchant, is a 
 sign that the right sort of co-operation has not been set in 
 motion between town and country. The trouble may lie in 
 any one or more of several different places. Usually, live, 
 public-spirited merchants are able to stem the tide and handle 
 the situation to their entire satisfaction, taking the stand that 
 they, located as they are, on the ground, and knowing the 
 farmers' likes and dislikes, should be able to compete success- 
 
 14 
 
fully with a mail-order house handicapped by hundreds of miles 
 of distance and by lack of intimate touch with local condi- 
 tions. 
 
 The hardware and farm implement business are repre- 
 sented by two large stores, which handle both commodities, 
 and which have a larger trading area than any of the other 
 businesses. The farmer trade at these stores runs from 30% 
 to 60% of their total trade. The farmer buys chiefly those 
 things of direct use on the farm; such as, wire, nails, imple- 
 ments, stoves, cooking utensils, etc. There is a strong ten- 
 dency for him to pick for the cheaper grade articles in the 
 hardware line in everything except farm implements. He 
 seems to have a keener sense of values here than in other 
 things, and can appreciate longevity and durability, and is 
 willing to pay for them. The same trait is to be observed 
 in the farmer's wife in the purchase of a cook stove. Innova- 
 tions and later models of cooking utensils and the like move 
 slowly among the farm folks. 
 
 In groceries, the farmers buy chiefly the staple articles, 
 like sugar, salt, rice, flour, coffee and some canned goods. 
 The grocery stores get farmer trade to the extent of 15% to 
 25% of their total trade. The farmer sells much produce to 
 some of the stores for city consumption. An eight-day busi- 
 ness in this produce at one of the leading grocery stores showed, 
 that during the first eight days of August, 1921, the store 
 bought $278.00 worth of chickens, eggs, honey, milk, vegetables, 
 and potatoes from farmers. During the same time the sales 
 of groceries from this store to the farmers amounted to about 
 $520.00. 
 
 The farmer does not, as a rule, buy the fancy, high grade 
 articles in the grocery line; he does not take up with new 
 brands and new articles very readily, and such articles move 
 slowly with him. The better grade grocery stores of l^he city, 
 of which there are some four or more, seek to develop the 
 taste of their customers by attractive advertising displays and 
 sample dishes. 
 
 The small grocery stores just within the city and some- 
 what removed from the congested part get a great deal of 
 farmer trade. The writer will not attempt an explanation of 
 
 15 
 
this fact, further than to state that it was frequently discovered 
 that the farmer feels he gets better service at these small stores, 
 and that a deeper and more intimate relationship develops 
 between merchant and customer through which the two co- 
 operate more successfully to their mutual advantage. 
 
 Jewelry merchants almost unanimously reported a very 
 small farmer trade; one of them complaining bitterly of the 
 mail-order house competition. It was often stated that the 
 farmer rarely buys elaborate or expensive articles, that the 
 younger generation purchases more liberally than does the 
 older, and that obtaining wedding presents is the chief reason 
 of most of the farmers' patronage at the jewelry store. For 
 themselves and for their home furnishings, the adult farmers 
 usually buy the lower grade and lower priced articles, looking 
 upon jewelry as bordering upon luxuries when a very high 
 investment is placed in it. 
 
 The farmer and his family are great bargain hunters, 
 according to the beliefs of the five and ten cent store men. On 
 Saturdays and farmer shopping days these stores, of which 
 there are two in Alexandria, are kept quite busy with country 
 customers. They purchase about the same kinds of articles as 
 other people, but will buy in proportion more cheap hardware 
 and jewelry. 
 
 There are several first-class furniture stores in Alexandria 
 which rank along with any of the best in the state, both in 
 quality and quantity of stock of certain kinds kept. The 
 farmer, however, is not an especially good buyer at these 
 stores. About 15% of their business is with the farmer, and 
 invariably these customers select the lower priced medium 
 grade articles. The furniture stores actively endeavor to raise 
 the standards of their farmer customers by their attractive 
 displays in windows and well worded newspaper advertise- 
 ments. They also, in personal sales, make it a policy to show 
 the higher grade article first. Most of the furniture sold to 
 farmers is at the time of their furnishing a new house. 
 
 In stores dealing in general men's and women's furnish- 
 ings one again finds the farmer buying medium to low priced 
 articles. As a rule, in the high grade stores of this type, he 
 buys well for the quality of article he selects ; he chooses 
 
 i6 
 
carefully for the money invested. There are about four or five 
 of these stores which rank first class, and which carry fine 
 displays in windows and good advertising in the local news- 
 paper. They endeavor to elevate the tastes of their custom- 
 ers, feeling that it is economically profitable for the customer 
 as well as for themselves for him to take the higher grade 
 articles. 
 
 Alexandria, however, has a surprising array of small, 
 cheap general furnishing stores (about 25 in number). For 
 many of these, 50% of their total trade is farmer trade, as 
 against 12% to 20% for the high grade stores. The small, 
 cheap stores usually sell according to the first inclinations of 
 their customers and make scarcely any effort to elevate their 
 standards of taste. One of these store men said/: "T.he 
 farmer looks for and buys the cheapest, and there is no use 
 showing him high quality and corresponding high priced stuff, 
 as he will not buy it." In other words, he seems willing to 
 sacrifice quality to price. 
 
 In drug and medicinal lines, the farmer trade in Alexan- 
 dria runs about 159( to 2.5% of the total. The farm family 
 usually purchases larger amounts at a time than city people, 
 and generally gets the good grade articles. One druggist 
 stated that they are using such articles as B. K. solutions, 
 boric acid, and chloride of lime, much more than formerly. 
 Patent medicines, paregorics and the like are on the decline, 
 he says. This change is accounted for by the good advice 
 offered in some of the leading daily papers and farmers' week- 
 lies, and to the well directed advertising of the druggists. In 
 the drug and medicinal lines the farmer seems amenable to 
 good advice and instruction. 
 
 In laundry work the farmer is a poor patron of the city's 
 advantages. There is a large, modern steam laundry, but a 
 very small per cent (about 2'/, ) of its total business comes from 
 the farm. This can l)e accounted for in this section of the 
 country by the fact that there is such a great supply of colored 
 help available to most farm homes. A French dry cleaning 
 establishment, however, stated that it had a good farmer trade, 
 the fjreater amount of which comes in the winter season in 
 the way of cleanins', mothing and pressing wool suits. 
 
 17 
 
The Alexandria Chamber of Commerce is an organization 
 designed to assist in the building up of city and counti-y and 
 to encourage better trade and social relations. It is very weak 
 on farmer membersliip, however, enrolling only about one 
 dozen farmers out of a total membership of 552 persons. This 
 organization is now carrying on an active campaign to en- 
 courage the formation of a parish-wide farm bureau associa- 
 tion, the diversification of crops, to obtain better marketing 
 facilities for farm produce and to establish a creamery and 
 definite dairy interests. Its campaign consists of visits of 
 its members to country districts, meetings in school houses, 
 halls, small towns and in Alexandria, and a vigorous setting 
 forth of plans in the local newspapers. Its efforts have been 
 of no small significance in the development of the already 
 excellent and extending farm-to-market highways, and in the 
 assurance of a creamery in Alexandria. During the spring 
 of 1921, the Chamber sent two men to the dairy and truck re- 
 gion around Crystal Springs and Brookhaven, Mississippi, to 
 investigate these businesses there and bring back to the city 
 and the surrounding farmers the results of their findings. 
 
 The Housewives' League of Alexandria has established a 
 curb market, which is open two days each week. This has 
 proven of considerable help in bringing the small producer and 
 the consumer together. 
 
 The bankers of Alexandria have no particular program 
 of working with the farm interests. They find their paper, 
 as a whole, hard to handle as a commercial proposition, al- 
 though they try to accommodate them as best they can in the 
 way of loans and renewal of loans. Actual, bona fide farmers 
 are in the great minority on their boards, although a fair num- 
 ber are represented among their stockholders. The number of 
 farmer customers at the banks is from about one-ninth to 
 one-seventh of the total number. One bank placed several hun- 
 dred subscriptions to the Country Gentleman in the homes of 
 boy and girl club workers as a premium in their contests. An- 
 other bank has undertaken to encourage better livestock on 
 the farms, and makes liberal loans for the purchase of same. 
 
 City conveniences, such as electric light and power, sewer- 
 age disposal, water systems and the like have not found their 
 
 i8 
 
way to a very great extent into the farm homes. In some parts 
 of the piney woods section, and even in the Red River valley, 
 the telephone in the rural home is a rarity. 
 
 The map on page 20 which shows some of the trade areas, 
 zones, and small trade centers in the general land base of Alex- 
 andria, presents an interesting study. The fact that the hard- 
 ware and grocery trade areas are so large, in fact they are 
 among the largest discovered in the city, is indicative that 
 these two lines of business are aggressive in meeting the needs 
 and demands of the farmer. 
 
 On the other hand, the great number of small cross-roads 
 store trading places, which are found within the general land 
 base of the city is indicative that many of the other city busi- 
 nesses are either on a par, or little developed above the cross- 
 roads store type so that they meet with competition from the 
 latter. Distance and convenience then become deciding factors 
 on the part of the farmer as to which he will patronize. 
 
 Large numbers of cross-roads stores may mean one or sev- 
 eral things relative to the character of the trade of a given 
 erea. 
 
 1st. Sparse settlement of the country may make distances 
 so great that only the infrequent wants will be satisfied at the 
 larger centers. 
 
 2nd. Low demand for goods of high quality. 
 
 3rd. Lack of initiative and push on the part of certain 
 merchants at the main centers in educating and cultivating 
 farmer trade. All of these factors are operative in the Alexan- 
 dria land base. 
 
 Social Relationships. — In the field of social relationships 
 farm and Alexandria city people have few things in common, 
 so far as could be discovered. A Rotary Club with a member- 
 ship of 90 has, at present, no bona fide farmer member. The 
 Kiwanis Club with a membership of 60 has two farmer mem- 
 bers. Both of these organizations try to assist boy and girl 
 club workers throughout the parish by providing certain prem- 
 iums for them. The Rotary Club has appointed one of its 
 members special agent in this work, and it sent him, during 
 the past summer, to Baton Rouge to accompany the club work- 
 
 19 
 
SOME TRADE AREA AND OTHER RURAL 
 RELATI0W5 OFALEXAWDRIA 
 
 LE&EN D 
 
 O CROiS-RftAD STORE CENTERS C^ML POPHLMION 5T0 SO PEOPLE) 
 X VILLAGER ANDTOWUS (USUAL POPULATION iOOTT) 500 PEOPLE) 
 -~ STREAMS AND BASOiLS 
 
 — ■ A hakdware: trade area 
 
 A GROCERS 5T0RE TRADE AREA 
 
 A BAPTIST CHURCH PARISH AND THE HIGH SCHODLZONE 
 
 Scale 7-16 in. 6 miles. 
 
ers at a boys' and girls' short course. The Kiwanis Club is 
 fostering one troop of boy scouts. The scout organization at 
 present, however, includes none or very few country boys. 
 There are two moving picture houses in Alexandria; 
 these are only fairly well used by farmei" people. They at- 
 tend, chiefly, on Saturday afternoons and on Sundays. An 
 average day's total attendance will range around 1200 people 
 of whom about 120 to 150 will be farmer people. 
 
 A Community Service Club is helping in both an economic 
 and social way to bring city and country into closer mutual 
 relationship. The report of one month's work of the Service 
 giveii below illustrates the extent and scope of its activities : 
 
 ' ' Visitors 1,340 
 
 Visitors helped in various ways 312 
 
 Meetings of different organizations 19 
 
 Number attending these various meetings 456 
 
 Number using the library 129 
 
 Visitors from out of town 284 
 
 Meals served to business and professional 
 
 women 2,316 
 
 Number receiving employment through Com- 
 munity Service 9 
 
 Number of rooms rented through Community 
 
 Service 4 
 
 Number of individuals taking advantage of the 
 
 opportunities offered by Community Service 4,819 
 The Community Service Club employs two traveler's work- 
 ers, and they constitute Alexandria's official reception com- 
 mittee. These workers welcome the strangers; impress upon 
 them that they are among friends; aid those in need; protect 
 the young ; inform those unacquainted with the citj^, and assist 
 to re-establish the morale of the discouraged and "down-and- 
 out,' " * 
 
 More than 200 young girls are assisted each month. At 
 the time of this report 300 aged people, 15 sick ladies, twelve 
 sick men, and seven sick babies had been cared for by the 
 Traveler's Aid Workers. 
 
 4. These data and statements, and others following, which relate to 
 the Community Service were obtained from the Secretary of the Service. 
 
The Community Service Building serves for a meeting 
 place for many organizations. Classes are held in the rooms 
 each evening for the working girls, land are conducted by volun- 
 teer teachers from the Business and Professional Women's 
 Club, which is a branch of Community Service Work. Boy 
 and girl scout clubs also use this building. A girl's scout 
 has just been organized containing eight troops and having 16 
 members in a troop. The boys' scout is composed of 14 troops 
 and has 32 members in a troop. 
 
 The Community Service organization has sent out about 
 3000 letters to country people and to teachers inviting them 
 to use the club headquarters. As a result all the home econo- 
 mics contests have been held at the club building, which find 
 it advantageous in any way to center their contests in the city. 
 At present 17 country girls are rooming and boarding at the 
 club until they can get work, and can get properly located in 
 good homes for permanent room and board. All of this 
 needful and necessary service of the club is financed by volun- 
 teer help and through a community chest. 
 
 The United Charities and the Red Cross of Alexandria 
 both reach out and assist in serving a small proportion of the 
 rural population. 
 
 A Mothers' Club has taken an active interest in assisting 
 farm girls who come to the city to seek employment. 
 
 The City of Alexandria is thoroughly well supplied with 
 lodges and various fraternal orders. Farmers and their fami- 
 lies are found in all of these ; but the territorial limits of their 
 membership is very much less than the extents of the common 
 trade basin of the city. In fact, on a proper comparative per- 
 centage basis, farmer membership in these various fraternal 
 orders is less than is the case in smaller urban centers. Parmer 
 members seem to be as good attendants, on the average, as city 
 members. 
 
 The scout executives of the parish are endeavoring to 
 make the boy and girl scout organizations parish-wide, so 
 rural boys and girls may have the benefits of these organiza- 
 tions. It is thought that by extending the influence of the 
 scout work in this way it will have a leavening effect upon 
 all young folks and thereby lead to higher standards. 
 
Church Relationships. — A survey of most of the very num- 
 erous churches as listed above showed a small number of farmer 
 members, and no particular program looking toward growth 
 and development in the rural areas. 
 
 In some of the churches, where there is a total membership 
 of 1000 people to 1100 people, there are only 50 to 75 farm 
 people members. Many of the smaller, less fashionable 
 churches, which have 350 to 500 members, frequently have 
 from 35 to 50 farmer members. 
 
 The Baptist churches probably have the largest Sunday 
 Schools. Busses are used for transporting the country chil- 
 dren; most of the children coming from within the public 
 school district. 
 
 rjhurch zones reaching into the country do not extend very 
 far, but they embrace a sufficient farm population to warrant 
 a larger membership of farm people in the churches, especial- 
 ly so, in the case of churches like the Presbyterian and Jewish 
 which are the only ones of their kind in the parish. 
 
 Health and Educational Relationships. — Alexandria has 
 one of the best high schools in the South. It is only fairly well pat- 
 ronized by farm boys and girls. Out of a total enrollment 
 of 488, 45 are from the country. In the elementary schools, 
 out of a total enrollment of 1648, 140 come from the country. 
 From 50% to 60% of the country boys and girls of high school 
 age, within the zone of the high school, attend. Alexandria 
 spends $150,935.50 yearly on white and negro schools. 
 
 Within the trade area of Alexandria there are a number 
 of good consolidated grade and high schools. In the parish 
 at large, there are 15 consolidated schools. These institutions 
 are represented as doing a wonderful work in improving rural 
 conditions and making the people feel on a social equality 
 with their city friends. 
 
 The public library is very poorly patronized by farm peo- 
 ple, as was indicated in the early part of this report. No par- 
 ticular means has been used, so far as could be learned, to at- 
 tract country people, either through liberal borrowing terms, 
 selection and advertising of literature relating to farming, or 
 the use of a circulating library among the rural districts. 
 
 23 
 
The local public health service is maintained by the parish, 
 city and state. Children are vaccinated against certain dis- 
 eases, school health examinations are held, and general infor- 
 mation is constantly given as to disease prevention, control 
 and sanitation. 
 
 The Red Cross Chapter extends its services in a limited 
 amount to the country districts. During a severe overflow of 
 water from the Red River several years ago it provided food 
 and seed for the stricken farm families; $2200 being used for 
 stock feeds and for seed, and $600.00 to $700.00 for family 
 foods. 
 
 The Charity Organization Society is also carrying on some 
 very valuable work in the city and country in the way of help- 
 ing the needy. The city appropriates about $7,000.00 for this 
 work. 
 
 The public hospital is being used a great deal by country 
 people for certain surgical cases, but not as much as by city 
 people for confinement cases. A survey made by a health 
 worker among rural children after they had been advised of 
 the need of treatment following a school health examination, 
 revealed the fact that only 2% of all cases so advised actually 
 went to the trouble to get treatment. This same worker 
 stated that city children, on the other hand, are much more 
 active in seeking treatment; that country people do not take 
 as good care of their health as do city people of theirs. 
 
 OAKDALE AND ITS RURAL RELATIONS. 
 
 Oakdale is h small city of 8,000 people, located in the 
 northeast part of Allen Parish. This is strictly a lumbering 
 and agricultural section of western Louisiana. Oakdale is not 
 the parish seat, but is the largest urban center, and the most 
 important marketing point in the parish. It is served by two 
 railroads, viz : The Missouri Pacific, north and south ; and the 
 Santa Fe, east and west. Highway facilities are good from 
 all the principal points around Oakdale over certain (limited 
 in, number) gravel and otherwise improved roads. 
 
 This little city represents a condition quite typical of much 
 of the newly developing cut-over and sawmill lands of the 
 South. Thousands of acres of the surrounding lands are still 
 
 24 
 
in the hands of the mill men. Long leaf yellow pine is the 
 chief timber, and the supply within the trade area of Oak dale 
 is estimated to last for about 15 years or more. What shall 
 be the policy of merchants, townsmen, mill men, prospective 
 farmer settlers relative to the gradual change of hands con- 
 trolling these lands? "Will there be a serious economic break 
 in the incomes of the section and a decimation of population 
 because of lack of foresight among leaders in shaping plans 
 to keep the land at work at its proper capacities? Throughout 
 the cut-over regions of the South one can see the vast vacant 
 stretches of idle land still held by lumber companies, who have 
 not released it to settlers for agricultural purposes. Many 
 once thriving mill towns in these regions have shriveled and 
 almost died away because nothing in the way of agricultural 
 development came to take the place of the lumber interest. 
 Sometimes these conditions are due to greedy practices and 
 policies on the part of the lumber interests in holding the 
 lands for exorbitant prices, and in not encouraging agricul- 
 ture, and sometimes they are due to a lack of foresight on the 
 part of town and public persons who should have a vision of 
 the future and help to shape policies and plans for it. 
 
 The citizens of Oakdale and some of the leading sawmill 
 men have a very keen sense relative to this whole situation, and 
 are bending every effort to prevent any break in the income 
 and economic stability of the community with the passing of 
 the saw mills. 
 
 Apropos of this, the following quotations concerning the 
 plans of the leading people as given in the Beaumont, Texas, 
 Enterprise ncM^spaper of February 3, 1921, are worthy of 
 notice : "Twenty years ago, Oakdale, La., was Without a habi- 
 tation and almost without a name. Eight years ago Oakdale 
 pointed with pride to its first brick building. To-day, Oakdale 
 has four religious congregations. Baptist, Catholic, Methodist, 
 and Presbyterian; a high school building that could not now 
 be re-furnished for less than $150,000.00; two banks, one of 
 which though only a branch institution, with a capital of only 
 $50,000.00, has deposits amounting to $2,000,000.00; five saw 
 mills with an aggregate output capacity of 650,000 feet daily ; 
 a civic league; library; electric light and water plant. 
 
 25 
 
"Already far seeing leaders here are planning to utilize 
 every acre of cut-over land for miles around Oakdale for agri- 
 cultural purposes. There is no crop known to Louisiana that 
 may not profitably be grown in Allen Parish. Trucking of 
 every variety will pay here. Two miles from town last year, 
 a planter raised 35 tons of sugar cane to the acre, and got a 
 handsome profit for it. Peanut culture here is and will be 
 profitable. This town was not built for the purpose of denud- 
 ing the forests, giving persons temporary employment, en- 
 couraging them to settle here, and then when the lumber bot- 
 tle was drained, so to speak, have them east off to seek settle- 
 ment and livelihood elsewhere. We shall see to it that Oakdale 
 is no such town as that." 
 
 The trade basin of Oakdale, as it relates to the farmer, 
 extends about 12 miles west, 8 miles south, 13 miles east, and 
 9 miles north. As in the case of Alexandria, it extends into the 
 adjoining parish on the east and the north. The population 
 of this area outside of Oakdale is all rural and is very sparsely 
 settled in some sections. According to one authority in Oak- 
 dale there are something less than 1000 farms in the whole 
 of Allen Parish, which contains 400,000 acres. The number 
 of cultivated acres for each of the farms has been placed at 
 about 22 acres. 
 
 According to a folder published by the Oakdale Chamber 
 of Commerce, there are practically no overflow or waste lands 
 in the parish ; rice cultivation is the chief farming in the south 
 part (which lies quite outside the Oakdale land area) and that 
 next in importance is the sweet potato. This folder further 
 states : ' ' One of the ready money crops of the farmer is 
 ribbon cane or sorghum. Not a money crop directly, but in- 
 directly the greatest force for the upbuilding of the land and 
 the feeding of stock is the velvet bean. At least 90% of the 
 corn fields of Allen Parish are sowed in velvet beans and corn 
 is becoming a secondary crop. 
 
 "Every farmer has a herd of native cattle or hogs and 
 the raising of thoroughbred (pure bred) stock is taking hold." 
 
 The Chamber of Commerce further estimates that of the 
 entire acreage of the parish given above, about 35,000 acres 
 are in cultivation, about 65,000 acres are in virgin long leaf 
 
 26 
 
pine, 35,000 acres in virgin hardwood, and 275,000 acres in 
 cut-over lands, principally pine. 
 
 Oakdale is amply supplied with business establishments 
 of a good grade for the size of the city. There are represented 
 the following places of trade : 3 hardware, 4 furniture, 4 drug, 
 5 meat markets, 2 jewelry stores, 4 general merchandise, 15 
 groceries, 12 dry goods and clothing, 8 confectionary and fruit, 
 4 ladies' shops, 2 blacksmiths, 2 banks, 2 insurance agencies, 6 
 hotels and rooming houses, 4 restaurants, 1 tailor, 2 pressing 
 shops, 1 picture show, 4 garages, 1 hand laundry, 4 barber 
 shops, 2 bottling works, 5 saw mills, 1 bakery, 1 news stand. 
 
 Trade Relationships. — The same sort of survey among 
 merchants and farmers was made at Oakdale as at Alexandria. 
 In a general way the report came that the farmer thinks and 
 acts like the merchant is trying to gouge him, and trying 
 to make an undue profit out of him. This feeling on the part 
 of the farmer as contrasted with almost a total absence of such 
 a feeling on the part of the townsmen probably arises, in part 
 at least, through the lack of the farmer keeping pace with 
 the changing purchasing power of the dollar. 
 
 In the hardware line, the farmer is a purchaser of good 
 grade farm implements and machines. He wants good saws, 
 axes, plows, and the like and is willing to pay Jpr them, but 
 in other lines of hardware he is prone to seek the cheaper 
 grades. About 25% of the total trade of the hardware mer- 
 chants is farmer trade. One general store man stated that 
 the farmer will buy good implements, but wear shoddy clothes 
 and cheap shoes ; also that it is easier to get him to take a new 
 kind of labor saving farm implement than to introduce a labor 
 saving convenience into the home and kitchen. 
 
 Of groceries the farmer buys mostly the staple articles. 
 Some of the groeerymen are able from time to time to introduce 
 new and valuable articles by using the proper sort of salesman- 
 ship and advertising, but as a rule these things go much more 
 slowly with the country people than they do with the city 
 people, and especially the saw mill people. The grocery stores 
 buy as much as they can of the truck products of the farmer, 
 but their abilities to absorb this produce are very limited be- 
 
 27 
 
cause of the smallness of the city, and consequently, the farm- 
 ers are faced with the problem of finding larger and more 
 permanent markets. Along this line the townsmen and the 
 Chamber of Commerce have been helping. The farmer trade 
 at the grocery store amounts to about 25% of the total trade 
 of these stores. 
 
 Furniture store men stated that' the farmer usually has 
 his mind set on the selection of cheaper grade articles, but 
 that occasionally he is amenable to change, and can be induced 
 to buy the better grade. The furniture stores of Oakdale do 
 not carry as high class goods as the same sort of stores at 
 Alexandria, nor do they offer as attractive displays. The 
 farmer trade at these stores runs about 15% of the total trade. 
 
 Of dry goods and general men's and women's furnishings, 
 the farmer at the better stores will buy the conventional and 
 staple articles, such as good grade of gingham and of suits, 
 instead of silks and satins; he will also buy madras shirts in- 
 stead of silk, and medium. priced shoes and hats; lisle hosiery 
 instead of silk. At the cheaper stores, of which there are a 
 goodly number, cheap articles are sought. Many of these 
 sorts of stores do not sell their goods on quality, but for what 
 they can get out of them, using a sliding scale of prices aimed 
 to suit the customers. The better grade of dry goods stores 
 have around 20% of their total trade farmer trade, while many 
 of the cheaper stores go as high as 50% of their total trade as 
 farmer trade. 
 
 Around Oakdale the farm family seems to be sticking 
 to patent medicines to a greater extent than around Alexan- 
 dria. They buy the best grade of these medicines, however, 
 and frequently will forsake them for prescribed medicines. 
 
 A jeweler stated that he didn't show farmer customers 
 high priced and valued articles, because it is of no use, he 
 will not buy them. Their purchases are of the less important 
 articles at medium to low prices. 
 
 A ladies' shop which gets the best of the farm women's 
 trade says that they will invariably select cheaper articles 
 than city women, and that very often they will offer as an 
 excuse for their inability to pay more the fact that they are 
 country people. 
 
 28 
 
Many of the younger men from the farms are now having' 
 their suits cut to order, according to the statements of one 
 tailor. He says they will buy practically as good suits as 
 city boys and that they will pay cash for them. 
 
 Of the two banks in Oakdale, one has no active program 
 of co-operation with the rural interests; the other is very 
 efficient along this line. This bank is now engaged in a cow 
 survey of its bank zone in order to have a correct basis for 
 promulgating a creamery project for Oakdale. It makes at- 
 tractive loans to farmers and assists them in every way pos- 
 sible through advice and consultation. This bank has a good 
 farmer patronage and the confidence of these customers to 
 a very high degree. Such an institution is of unlimited value 
 in fostering better relationships between country and urban 
 centers. 
 
 The Oakdale Chamber of Commerce is composed of 142 
 members of which only one is a farmer. This organization 
 tries very hard to enlist the aid and help of the farmers and 
 to assist them. The Chamber looks up markets for the farm 
 produce, assists materially in fostering boy's and girl's club 
 work, fairs, and the like. 
 
 Social Relationships. — Along these linus, there is not much 
 co-operation. There is a Ladies' Civic League of 46 members 
 in the city, but no country woman is a member. This league 
 has to do with the physical improvement of Oakdale. It 
 erected a turn post on the main street, cleaned the new school 
 grounds, built a fence around it, and annually supports a 
 community Christmas tree. 
 
 In making the survey of social relationships the complaint 
 was heard from many quarters that the farm women do not 
 mix well with the city women. Farmei-s and their families 
 seldom attend lyecum courses or school entertainments in the 
 city. Field days, )iageants and community festivals seem to 
 be out of the question in the face of such utter lack of common 
 interest. The annual parish fair, which is lield in Oakdale, 
 and the' eommunit.v Christmas tree events are very well at- 
 tended by farm jjeople. 
 
 A pool-room operator stated that the farmer and his son 
 do not play pool. He thinks that the infrequeney of opportuni- 
 
ties to participate in sports of such a nature causes them to 
 abstain quite generally, because of timidity growing out of 
 lack of practice. Oakdale, in common with many other cen- 
 ters, illustrates very well the separateness of town and coun- 
 try in recreational matters. Developing mutual play interests 
 is ' certainly one of the fertile avenues to satisfactory under- 
 standing and co-operation. 
 
 The lodges, clubs and other social organizations, for both 
 men and women, are decidedly low in farmer membership. 
 Here is an excellent opportunity for developing friendly rela- 
 tions between town and country that is being neglected. 
 
 Church Relationships. — Among the four churches in Oak- 
 dale, the Baptist leads the list in number of country members. 
 Out of a total membership of 600, it has about 75 country 
 members. The Presbyterian church has only a small mem- 
 bership in the city and none in the country. The Methodist 
 church has a total membership of 225 of which 20 are farm 
 people. The Catholic church has a total membership of 200 
 of which about 20 are from the country. We find in Oakdale 
 a church problem similar in nature to the one in Alexandria. 
 Thorough-going, conscious efforts need to be put forth to link 
 city and country in a vital and serious manner in all such 
 places where the field of church relationships is so plainly 
 open and awaiting development. 
 
 School and Educational Relationships. — Oakdale has a 
 very good high and consolidated grade school, and the ad- 
 vantages offered by this seem to be appreciated by the farm- 
 ers. One hundred twenty-eight farm boys and girls are en- 
 rolled in the high school department. The school building is 
 very modern and contains a fine auditorium, which also serves 
 as a city auditorium. Under such a plan the school becomes 
 a center for lectures, lyceums and similar significant entertain- 
 ments. 
 
 Oakdale has a small, new library which is very little 
 used by country people. Careful, constructive leadership in 
 this institution will make it a potent factor for social and edu- 
 cational development. 
 
 3° 
 
CHENEYVILLE AND ITS RURAL RELATIONS. 
 
 Cheneyville is a typical small rural town of 500 inhabi- 
 tants. It is located in Rapides Parish about 28 miles south- 
 east of Alexandria. The Texas and Pacific and the Southern 
 Pacific railroads serve the town well as good channels for 
 market products, and for communication. Two main gravel 
 highways and the Bayou Boeuf also pass through Cheneyville. 
 The latter was an important artery of commerce and transpor- 
 tation during the early history and settlement of the village 
 and the surrounding country; at the present time it is quite 
 sluggish and is very little used. Reference to the trade area 
 map of Cheneyville, which accompanies this Sketch and is 
 found on page 32 will show how the homes tended to group 
 themselves near the bayou. The main highways also follow 
 closely the general windings of the bayou. 
 
 The character of the country surrounding Cheneyville 
 and comprising its trade area is first class, rich farming land ; 
 almost level in topography. The soil in the center of the area, 
 extending the full length of it, is composed of a very fine, 
 sandy loam; this is bordered on either side by areas of silt 
 loam, which shade off into swamps. The trade area, which 
 also includes all the cultivable land between the swamps on 
 either side of it, extends about five miles northwest, and five 
 miles southeast from Cheneyville, and is from two miles to 
 three miles wide. The piney woods country is not close 
 enough to Cheneyville to have an effect upon its industrial 
 and agricultural life. Some logging is done, however, from 
 the swampy areas, and the lumber is shipped from the village. 
 This is a minor occupation, compared with agriculture. 
 
 The chief products of the area are cotton, sugar cane, 
 Irish potatoes, corn, hogs and cattle. 
 
 In contrast with Oakdale and its area, this is an old set- 
 tled community, and the village of Cheneyville used to be one 
 of the earliest trading posts in the settlement of Western 
 Louisiana. Most of the soils of the area have been under the 
 plantation system for 60 or 70 years. Owing to their alluvial 
 formation and rich stores of fertility, they are still very pro- 
 ductive. 
 
%!2 
 
There are about 700 homes in the trade area, giving a 
 population of approximately 3400 people. It has been esti- 
 mated that a large percentage of these (something over one- 
 half) are negroes. There are only 12 Italian families, con- 
 taining 75 members. The white people are almost entirely of 
 American stock, and the dominant group whose ideals seem 
 to set the pace for the community are of English Colonial des- 
 cent. Their children, however, are rapidly forsaking the land 
 for easy jobs in towns and cities. The negroes and a small 
 class of whites tenant most of the land. The large plantations 
 of former days have been gradually divided into farms which 
 now run from 100 to 500 acres in size. 
 
 Cheneyville embraces the following organizations and in- 
 stitutions : 5 general stores, 1 grocery store, 2 dry goods and 
 shoe stores, 2 blacksmith shops, 2 barber shops, 1 bank, 5 
 churches, 2 cotton gins, 1 restaurant, 1 hotel, 1 rooming house, 
 2 men's lodges, and 2 women's lodges. 
 
 Trade Relationships. — Practically all of the farmer's buy- 
 ing and selling takes place in Cheneyville. He ships from this 
 point his surplus corn, hogs a,nd cattle, or sells them to local 
 buyers who ship them; cotton, poultry products, dairy prod- 
 ucts, and lumber are also sold and the money left in the com- 
 munity. The average yearly amounts of the different commo- 
 dities marketed here are as follows: 3600 bales of cotton at 
 about $100.00 per bale ; 30,000 tons of sugar cane at about 
 $4.00 per ton; 20 cars of 400 bushels each of Irish potatoes at 
 $1.50 per bushel; 20 cars of 400 bushels each of sweet potatoes 
 at 80c per bushel ; 3 cars of corn of 600 bushels each at $1.23 per 
 bushel; 3 cars of hogs of about 36,000 pounds each at 8c to 9c 
 per pound; 500 head of cattle at about $25.00 per head. Cot- 
 ton seed, dairy and poultry products and poultry are also very 
 important items. 
 
 The farmer purchases in the different stores of the village 
 are very large ; ordinarily they are 90% to 95% of the total 
 trade done by the stores. At a general store which handles 
 practically all supplies needed on the farm, it was stated that 
 the farmer during the war bought higher quality of things 
 than now; the possible explanation being that in so doing he 
 was living more luxuriously during the war than now, feeling 
 
 3?, 
 
at that time the impulse of more ready cash than was his 
 accustomed lot. It was also stated at this store that the towns- 
 man buys a better grade of things and pays more for them, 
 because he is more accustomed to following the varying ranges 
 of the value of a dollar; also, that many farmers set their 
 minds on the price they will pay before coming into the store. 
 
 Another general store, which carries all sorts of commodi- 
 ties of medium to low grade, stated that it is harder to get the 
 farmer to buy high quality in groceries than in boots and 
 shoes. 
 
 Careful investigation revealed that, for the highest quality 
 of articles, for which there is a very limited demand among 
 both certain townsmen and farmers, the large stores of Alex- 
 andria are patronized. Merchants in Chenej^ville find it un- 
 profitable to keep such commodities on their shelves, because 
 of the infrequent call for them. These commodities are gen- 
 erally in the lines of clothing, shoes and hats. "While a mer- 
 chant must have a certain volume of trade in order to make 
 it pay to keep certain things of infrequent demand, this fact 
 need not lead him to neglect entirely his very essential duty 
 of endeavoring to elevate the choices and standards of his 
 patrons, to sell them service along with' commodities. 
 
 A number of merchants in different lines mentioned the 
 tendency of the farmer to spend more freely on quality when 
 times are good, and to sacrifice quality to price when times 
 are hard. 
 
 The bank of Cheneyville is a very necessary institution, 
 and is well patronized by the farmers. It handles large quan- 
 tities of cotton money in the fall; it makes terms on its loans 
 to farmers ; 80% of its total accounts are farmer accounts. 
 
 There are two farmer co-operative companies in Cheney- 
 ville. One, the Farmer Truck & Produce Company, owns 
 and operates its own cotton gin. About 90% of the member- 
 ship are farmers. Some of the dividends declared by this 
 company run as high as 25%. Besides ginning cotton, this 
 co-operative company operates in helping to ship and to sell 
 truck for the farmers. It handles most of this sort of produce, 
 shipping it in bulk in car lots, and thus making a great saving 
 for the individual farmers. 
 
 34 
 
The other co-operative company is a cotton gin concern 
 called the Planters' Gin Company. It, also, is" almost entirely 
 a farmer owned company. These two gins handle all of the 
 cotton of the area. 
 
 As contrasted with Alexandria and Oakdale, there is a 
 much closer relationship in business ways between the farmer 
 and townsman in Cheneyville. The simpler organization of 
 the town and its close dependence upon the country probably 
 accounts for this. Cheneyville, however, offers fewer up-to- 
 date trade opportunities, and ranks lower in grade as a trade 
 ^nd industrial center. The question to be asked is, is this 
 due to the fact that farmers do not demand and properly 
 support a higher grade center to the extent that one can exist 
 in a strictly farming area with farmer trade its chief source 
 of patronage? It will require more study and research to an- 
 swer this question satisfactorily, as well as closely allied ques- 
 tions associated directly with this one. 
 
 Social Relationships. — There are two men's and two wom- 
 en's lodges in this town, with memberships running from 30 
 persons to 60 persons. They are evenly divided as between 
 town and country in point of membership. In these organiza- 
 tions, there is a closer association between the town interests 
 and the country interests than is the case at Oakdale or Alex- 
 andria. 
 
 There is a floral society in the community which is com- 
 posed of 20 town women and 20 country women. This or- 
 ganization is valuable in developing understanding and co- 
 operation between the two sets of people. It meets once each 
 month at the homes of members and, besides its social good 
 times, has a program for the discussion of flowers, their growth, 
 care and cultivation. 
 
 Usually during the winter and spring months a Chautau- 
 qua and lyceum course are arranged for and supported by a 
 committee composed of leading farmers and townsmen. Both 
 of these are fairly well patronized by country and town. 
 
 There are few retired farmers living in town. A great 
 many of the town business men have landed interests in the 
 country. 
 
 35 
 
Cliques and factions exist in the community, whicli se- 
 riously tend to interfere with social harmony and economic 
 progress. These do not divide themselves along country and 
 town lines, however. Many of the younger people leave the 
 community for the cities, where there are more life, interest, 
 and seemingly better things to be enjoyed. This also cuts 
 deep into the social and economic conditions. 
 
 Church Relationships. — There are five churches in the 
 town. Only one has a regular resident minister and services 
 each Sunday. The membership of all the churches is about 
 equally divided as between town and country, except the 
 Baptist, which is a thriving country church, located in town. 
 It has a membership of 20Q, 25% of which are town people. 
 This church is the only one holding services every Sunday. Its 
 zone corresponds with the trade area of the village. The 
 membership in the other four churches ranges from 12 persons 
 up to 100. 
 
 There is no particular program among the churches look- 
 ing towards the development of the community; they hold a 
 very sectarian view and would rather struggle along ineffec- 
 tively as they are than federate their forces and give birth to 
 one or two thriving, socially minded institutions. Unless 
 something is done to rejuvenate the church life of this com- 
 munity, it must continue in its mediocre manner. 
 
 Educational and School Relationships. — A good consoli- 
 dated school, containing a commissioned high school depart- 
 ment, is maintained in the town. Farmer boys and girls from 
 throughout the district or trade area attend this school. The 
 school, however, seems more bent on fitting its pupils for some 
 higher institution than on fitting them for the tasks of the 
 community. Busses carry the country children to and from 
 the school. 
 
 The school organization during the year gives a number 
 of public entertainments. The total enrollment of all pupils 
 is as follows: In grades, 135 boys, 121 girls; in high school, 
 20 boys and 29 girls of which 9 boys and 17 girls come from 
 the country. In the spring of 1922 the principal stated that 
 of a total enrollment of 315 pupils in both the grade and high 
 
 36 
 
school departments, 216 or 69% were from the farm homes. 
 Cheneyville spends annually about $20,052.00 on her schools. 
 
 There is no public library in Cheneyville and only a small 
 collection of books in the school. 
 
 The foregoing data and discussions, considered together 
 with the trade area map of Cheneyville, indicate that the possi- 
 bilities for developing it as a first-class farmers' town are, 
 without doubt, lying latent. It has an abundant farnl popu- 
 lation upon which to draw; admitting as we must, however, 
 that colored people are quite numerous, and consequently tend 
 to help maintain lower grade trade institutions. A wealth of 
 products and of trade are round about Cheneyville ; density 
 of population is sufi:icient, and communication between town 
 and country is excellent. (See Cheneyville trade area map 
 on page 32.) 
 
 Cheneyville, however, in one case at least, furnishes us 
 a common type of ailment. It is heavily charged with the 
 support of a great many small, low grade institutions which 
 are scattering and enfeebling to concerted action towards a 
 definite goal of high community interests. It, in common 
 with hosts of other farmers' towns, might well profit by fewer 
 ^nd better managed, and correspondingly better patronized 
 institutions. In this way higher standards along all lines for 
 both town and country could be obtained. A greater volume 
 of trade and of social patronage to a fewer number of institu- 
 tions, which are conducted with due regard to the interests of 
 the whole people is one of the fundamental needs of many such 
 towns. 
 
 TOWNS IN ST. TAMMANY PARISH. 
 
 The same detailed study was made of four centers in St. 
 Tammany Parish in southeastern Louisiana as was made of 
 Alexandria, Oakdale and Cheneyville. The author, however, 
 feels it is not necessary to burden the reader with a presenta- 
 tion of descriptive matter, and the same critical analysis of 
 each trade and business, except in cases where these may show 
 variations not covered by the other towns. 
 
 The following excerpts were taken from the Keport of 
 the Parish Agricultural Agent for the calendar year 1920, 
 
 37 
 
and relate to the general type of agriculture and resources of 
 the areas covered by this part of the study. 
 
 "St. Tammany Parish ranks about the 4th or 5th in size 
 among the larger parishes of the State. Only about 16-18% 
 of the total area able to be cultivated is under cultivation, 
 while about 8% is swamp and low lands and the other 74% 
 is either now in timber or in cut-over pine lands and open 
 range. This explains why there are only 672 farms in the 
 parish. The average size of these farms is about 80 acres, 
 while only 35% of this acreage on each farm is under cultiva- 
 tion. 
 
 "The three main crops that are being raised are sugar 
 cane, rice and sweet potatoes. The draAvbacks these crops 
 are facing is the lack of co-operation among the farmers to 
 place the products on the markets in carload lots. More live- 
 stock development could be had, but the people are being 
 warned not to go in too heavy as long as we are suffering 
 from Texas fever and cattle ticks and are under quarantine. 
 
 "Our light sandy soil is not a heavy corn producing land 
 and the farmer who raises enough to feed his work stock 
 from one season to another does very well; however, with 
 the use of legumes, a little more this year than ever before, 
 our corn crop is larger and the yields have been a little better. 
 
 "There has been close co-operation between the local sec- 
 retary of the Covington Association of Commerce and the 
 office of County Agent along the lines of co-operative buying 
 and selling. In two cars of syrup sold the average price of 
 $1.05 per gallon was received while the local pricei being offered 
 was only 90c per gallon." 
 
 St. Tammany Parish has some problems very similar to 
 those of Allen and Rapides Parishes. There are vast areas of 
 unused, cut-over pine lands which are awaiting the hands of 
 competent farmers for development. Community growth is 
 retarded by such sparse settlement on the land. Most of the 
 virgin pine forests have been removed and the parish is in 
 the transition stage between lumber interests and farming in- 
 terests. Many of the more progressive townspeople are striv- 
 ing intelligently to bridge this transition and to foster the 
 right sort of relations as to town and country development. 
 
 38 
 
COVINGTON AND ITS RURAL RELATIONS. 
 
 Covington is a parish seat center of 3200 inhabitants. It 
 is strictly an agricultural town, being dependent quite largely 
 upon the farms round about it. It contains two railroads, 
 the usual supply of stores, shops, professional people and 
 artisans. As a trade center it will grade as high or perhaps 
 a little higher than Oakdale. On the whole it seems to be 
 reaching the farmer a little more intimately than Oakdale, 
 and his needs are being rather carefully considered. Parmer 
 business with the different stores varies in amount from almost 
 nothing (in one or two instances of store men not desiring 
 such) up to 85% in other cases. The character of this trade 
 is not dissimilar in nature to what has been discovered for 
 the other centers studied. A tradesman, of whose total trade 
 is about 50% with farmers, made the following pointed re- 
 marks about the rural patronage. He finds the farmer gener- 
 ally has his mind set on what he wants, and that it is hard 
 to get him to take a new and superior article ; also, that because 
 of lack of education, the farmer does not appreciate careful 
 medical attention. He feels, however, that the farmer's pre- 
 sent economic condition will scarcely stand the strain of close, 
 skilled medical advice, and as a consequence, many country 
 people are patrons of swamp root, cod liver oil and other patent 
 medicines. According to this merchant, however, a large part 
 of the solution of better farm conditions, and corresponding 
 better rural relations with the towns, rests upon education of 
 the rising generations. 
 
 The lodges, churches and social organizations, generally, 
 show a feeble farmer membership and little real constructive 
 attempt to enlist the farmer. The stocks held in commercial 
 establishments like banks, (of which there are two) stores, 
 garages and similar establishments are almost entirely owned 
 and controlled by city people. 
 
 Covington presents a variety of business houses of different 
 grades for the patronage of her constituents. One of the busi- 
 ness streets, off from the square, is largely a farmers' street, 
 and here we find an honest attempt by the better grade stores 
 to assist the farmer in keeping his margins high in goods and 
 services. Displays, advertising and salesmanship are done on 
 
 39 
 
a scale to develop good choice and with an aim of future satis- 
 faction and well-being. 
 
 One of the enterprising merchants of Covington, of whose 
 trade 60% is farmer patronage, and who in turn buys much 
 produce from the farmer, believes firmly that the store man 
 occupies a very strategic position in the relationship of farmer 
 and townsman. -^He thinks the farmer's ideals of living, dress, 
 and taste are moulded and shaped (in many subtle ways, 
 perhaps) to a greater or less degree, by the store man in sales 
 and advertising methods. 
 
 The small library which is maintained in Covington is 
 very little used by country people. The parks, play grounds 
 and other amusement and recreational features are also little 
 patronized by farmers' families. The facilities offered by a 
 good high school maintained in Covington are_ appreciated, 
 and a goodly number of country boys and girls are attending. 
 
 The town has been very successful in fostering a thorough- 
 going parish fair, which draws 7,000 to 8,000 people every 
 year, one-half of whom are farmers and their families. 
 
 FOLSOM AND TALISHEEK AND THEIR RURAL 
 RELATIONS. 
 
 These are hamlets for first supplies and immediate needs. 
 Folsom is the larger with a population of about 115 people ; 
 Talisheek has about 85 people. Each of them has experienced 
 more prosperous times and much larger population; they are 
 now experiencing a low ebb between lumber interests, which 
 have practically gone, and agricultural interests, which are 
 still in embryonic development. 
 
 Folsom will probably rank as a somewhat higher grade 
 trade center, because of the more concerted effort to enlist 
 the farmer, because of the greater variety of goods and services 
 offered and the larger number of institutions at his command. 
 In Folsom there are four stores, all of them handling a general 
 stock of supplies, one being very complete in general mer- 
 chandise, hardware, groceries and similar commodities. This 
 latter store makes a strong effort to bring before the farmer 
 an appreciation of quality, and also tries to lead in developing 
 ideals for town and country betterment. Folsom has one 
 
 40 
 
church of 75 members, about one-half of whom are farmers, 
 one lodge, a four-teacher school, one physician, a part-time bar- 
 ber, a postoffice and a railway station. 
 
 An honest endeavor has been made to center community 
 life in Folsom, and two leading merchants have purchased 
 an old store building, which they are selling to the community 
 for a general community hall. So far, this project has been 
 functioning very well, farmers and townsmen are both con- 
 tributing towards paying for the hall, and frequent educa- 
 tional and entertainment meetings have been held in it. 
 
 The trading area of Folsom extends from 2 miles to 10 
 miles on all sides of the town, and it embraces a population 
 of about 1500 people. As has been stated for the parish at 
 large, agriculture is practiced on a small scale on most of the 
 farms, profits are moderate, farm homes are very modest 
 and mostly devoid of up-to-date conveniences, community life 
 is slowly developing. Folsom, the center of the trade and 
 social life furnishes, in the main, the sort of trade center 
 that can be used to advantage by the present state of the 
 population. It would not be proper economy for merchants 
 and others to stock themselves with grades of goods and to 
 offer ser^'ioes beyond the power of their people to absorb and 
 appreciate. Folsom, however, must continue to grow with the 
 development of agricultui-e, and must keep at heart the good 
 of the community. 
 
 Talisheek. — Talisheek is less capable of taking care of the 
 wants of its population than is Folsom. It has three stores, 
 a population of about 85 people, two churches, a school, a 
 part-time barber and a small postoffice ; it is also on a railroad. 
 Only the most staple articles can be purchased at Talisheek*, 
 altho one of the stores carries a good line of most of the things 
 found in the homes of the community. But, here, as is the 
 case at Folsom, one finds the farmers going to Covington for 
 most of their higher grade articles and those things for which 
 there is an infrequent demand. 
 
 The trade area of Talisheek extends from 2 miles to 5'/2 
 miles on all sides of the town, and it embraces about 300 
 people. The social life of the entire community centers chiefly 
 at Talisheek around the churches, the school and the stores. 
 
 41 
 
Loafing around the stores is very common during the winter 
 months, and is considered as not productive of very great 
 value ; in fact, it is discouraged by the better class of citizens. 
 This can be taken as a step in the right direction, and as a 
 conscious social control endeavor to teach the elements of 
 the citizenry thrift, better management of their duties and 
 application to their opportunities. 
 
 In the cases of Talisheek and Folsom we find no special 
 lines of demarcation between townsman and farmer; in fact, 
 many townsmen, and even store owners, are operators of 
 farms at or near the edges of the hamlets. 
 
 WALDHEIM. 
 
 At Waldheim one finds only a store in the open country. 
 A two-teacher school is near by and a farmers' meeting house 
 is also close at hand. Here we get strictly a convenience 
 station which is maintained by a farmer for the farmers en- 
 tirely because it saves them going to town for some of the 
 more frequently needed articles, like fiour, sugar, groceries of 
 certain kinds, some forms of hardware and a few cheap dress 
 goods. The number of customers at this store is about 40 
 to 50 on the average ; it hardly pays sufficient to support a 
 family. It is situated about six miles from Covington in a 
 good farming section. Its trade area embraces about 200 
 people and extends 2 miles to 5 miles on all sides of the store. 
 
 The question naturally arises, does a cross-roads store 
 situated as is the one at Waldheim have a place in present 
 economy? The answer will be found in whether or not it is 
 performing a service and a function for which people are will- 
 ing to pay, and whether or not it, as a public agent, is making 
 the proper use of this service or function. The merchant at 
 Waldheim — who is a farmer — seems to have in mind his limita- 
 tions as a merchant. He sees in such a place an opportunity for 
 considerable community service. The fact that the farmers vol- 
 untarily maintain a business at the store sufficient to keep it 
 going, when, by driving a little further, they could do all their 
 trading in Covington, is indicative that some sort of a function 
 is being performed for which they are willing to pay. The sur- 
 facing of the main highway from this community to Covington 
 may ultimately cause the disappearance of this store. 
 
 42 
 
Reference to the accompanying map of the trade area of the 
 Waldheim store, which is found on this page, illustrates the 
 smallness of its field of operation, and indicates at once that 
 
 THE WALDHEIM STORE TRADE AREA 
 
 • FARM HO/y\E 
 = ROAD 
 
 STREAM 
 
 o SCHOOL 
 
 X CHURCH 
 
 Scale 11-16 in. i mile 
 
 such a business can be of only limited service ; in most cases, of 
 doubtful social and economic value. 
 
 43 
 
SUMMARY AND GENERAL CONCLUSIONS. 
 
 A leading question arising out of this investigation is, do 
 we not have, in the country at large, too many small, low-grade 
 towns and businesses so poorly distributed as to incur an un- 
 necessary burden upon society, and at the same time retard the 
 spread of progressive ideals and general social and economic 
 advancement for both town and country? Another very per- 
 tinent query naturally follows, namely : would it not be possible 
 to plan a more equitable distribution of farmers' towns and 
 trading points, and through an organized social control work 
 out a system whereby the grades of trading centers would be of 
 a nature adequate enough to supply the needs of all farmers, and 
 at the same time elevate standards and lift ideals? The writer 
 feels that much constructive thought can well be put upon these 
 two questions. This investigation has merely served to open them 
 up ; more extensive studies will be required to answer them fully. 
 In a small city like Alexandria, which has been so dependent 
 upon the products of the forest and the field for its past develop- 
 ment, and still is for its continued support, why is the farmer 
 so absent from its stockholder lists, its Rotary and Kiwanis clubs, 
 its lodges, churches, and general social institutions, all of which 
 he has helped to give a place in the social and economic struc- 
 ture of the city and community? Why do we find him doing 
 a very large share of his trading in the smaller, less fashionable 
 stores and remaining a heavy patron of the groceries near the 
 edges of the city? Also, why does he not appear more in the 
 parks, entertainment houses and in the general life of the city? 
 
 As we descend from the small city to the cross-roads 
 store, we find the farmer figuring more and more in the make-up 
 of the town, in both its business and social life ; but, while he 
 gains here in interest and in numbers he loses in opportunities 
 for the higher choices and standards available, and in diversity 
 of institutions. The substance of it all is, the farmer feels "at 
 home" in the smaller centers and does not in the city. Is this 
 due to the farmer's make-up, or to the city man's treatment of 
 and attitude toward the farmer? 
 
 The small city with its higher grade institutions offers the 
 country people more abundant opportunity for advancing their 
 standards of living and diversifying their social contacts than 
 is offered by the town. A solution of the problem lies, in part 
 
 44 
 
at least, in the city becoming more "homelike" to and for the 
 farmer, and in the town directing its aims and ideals more 
 towards the view of its social-service duties; towards its be- 
 coming a leading force in store, office, lodge, church, club and 
 school in the attainment of the highest standards. 
 
 Perhaps a weeding out of small, straggling, inefficient trad- 
 ing centers and the development of more sizable towns, better 
 distributed, as above suggested, would be a step towards a solu- 
 tion. Undoubtedly, a thinning out of Small, non-effective, low- 
 grade institutions in many of our agricultural towns and sup- 
 planting them with up-to-date, well-managed ones would be a 
 decided benefit to both townsman and farmer. 
 
 How is to be explained the very frequent complaint of 
 merchants that the farmer has his "mind set" on certain low 
 grades and prices in articles, and that it is of little use to try 
 to sell him something better? Are we to draw conclusions from 
 this that farmers do not appreciate values to the same extent 
 as town and city people? 
 
 Evidence so far indicates that the advertising methods of 
 merchants have a great deal to do with this. Advertising, 
 whether it be in the local paper, by bills and posters, by win- 
 dow and counter display, has a subtle influence on the pros- 
 pective purchaser, ilany advertisements are grossly misleading, 
 and very frequently allege certain values which do not exist in 
 the article. Others make unjust and unequal comparisons be- 
 tween values and prices of articles of high and low grades. As 
 a consequence of much of this kind of foreword, the buyer who 
 is unaccustomed to judging values in many sorts of articles, 
 comes to make his purchase with an already formed notion of 
 what is proper value and price for a given article. 
 
 It seems that certain classes of hardware and implements, and 
 certain standard grocery articles, have forged further ahead in 
 leading the farmer to adopt a new and a better method or article 
 than is the case with other commodities. This may be due to the 
 type of service given with the sale, or to a combination of rural 
 psychology, good advertising and good salesmanship. Whatever 
 the cause, other businesses and business men might well profit 
 by the examples set, and thereby help towards developing a closer 
 relationship and understanding between farmer and townsman. 
 
 45 
 
Farmer representation in town institutions, both social and 
 economic, at least in accordance with the weight and importance 
 of the agricultural element in the make-up and support of the 
 place, is certainly a fertile and important means of bringing 
 about better co-operation and team work. 
 
 Whether or not professionalization is to be the next step 
 in the development of mercantile practices, it becomes very evi- 
 dent that the town's business men, as well as her social and 
 educational workers, must make increasingly greater application 
 of the concepts of sound psychology and sociology. We cannot 
 hope for the town and country co-operation that rings true until 
 folks really understand the fundamental principles of individual 
 and group life with which they must constantly deal. 
 
 Abundant proof has developed through this investigation 
 to show that on many of the deepest rooted and most trouble- 
 some of the problems involved in town and country relationships, 
 the farmer and townsman must work with equal integrity and 
 oo-operative spirit. AH blame for [unsatisfactory conditions 
 cannot be laid wholly at the door-step of either party. Pro- 
 grams calling for change, progress and development should rest 
 upon carefully drawn plans for acquainting the townsman 
 with the farmer's true problems of living, of work, of recreation, 
 and education; and the farmer with the townsman's difficulties 
 of trade, of competition, of unsocial beings, and the constant 
 problem of how best to meet and understand properly the farmer 
 in the farmer's own environment.