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Page:The little democracy, a text-book on community organization (IA littledemocracyt00clar).pdf/57

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ORGANIZING THE COMMUNITY CENTER

should be supported out of public funds. There were in 1918 four such publicly elected and publicly supported Community Secretaries in Washington, D. C., and eight more such officials were in the process of being created. It promises to be one of the most honored and useful of all public offices. The qualifications for this office are manifestly large and its duties complex and exacting. The ablest person to be found is none too able. The function of the secretary is nothing less than to organize and to keep organized all the Community activities herein described; to assist the people to learn the science and to practice the art of living together; and to show them how they may put into effective operation the spirit and method of coöperation. Who is equal to a ask like this? In addition to intellectual power and a large store of general information, one must be equipped with many more qualities equally important. The seven cardinal virtues of a Community Secretary are: Patience, unselfishness, a sense of humor, a balanced judgment, the ability to differ in opinion without differ-

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