governments in support of them.

THE "RIGHT IDEA OF IT"

It is said that in one of the training camps during the war an
officer addressed a squad of new recruits as follows:

Boys, I want you to get the right idea of the salute. I do not
want you to think that you are being compelled to salute me as an
individual. No! When you salute me, you are simply rendering
respect to the power I represent; AND THE POWER I REPRESENT IS
YOU. Now let me explain. You elect the President of the United
States, and the President of the United States grants me a
commission to represent his authority in this army. His only
authority is the authority that you vest in him when you elect him
President. Now, when you salute an officer, you salute not the
man, but the representative of your own authority. The salute is
going to be rigidly enforced in this army, and I want you boys to
get the right idea of it. I want you to know what you salute and
why.

It is very important that we should "get the right idea" of what
our government is. It is very much the idea that the officer gave
his soldiers about the salute. It is the idea contained in this
chapter: that government is our own organization for team work in
community life. All through this book we shall be engaged in
discovering how far this is true.

Do you know of instances in which the national government has
helped to secure cooperation among the farmers of your locality?